U Magazine, Summer 1989

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Naugle and his state-of-the-art machine were quickly reunited once the mistake was realized, and now he hopes to complete his master's thesis this summer, then perhaps take a year off to concentrate on his two novels. He's found initial success in the competitive writing field: five of his poems recently were accepted for publication. Fraternity Cross Burning Elicits Anger, Despair Faculty members and others on campus expressed anger and dismay. Members of San Diego's minority community reacted with shock. News commentators were outraged. And the city attorney weighed the filing of misde– meanor charges. But the 27 members and pledges of USD 's Sigma Chi frater– nity - who precipitated the uproar with a May 20 late-night burning of a 10-foot wooden cross at Torrey Pines State Reserve - say it was just a

Torrey Pines State Reserve during the evening on May 20 and planted the cross on an isolated bluff overlooking the beach. After igniting the cross and tossing lists of their personal faults into the flames , fraternity members were caught by park officials. While Burke pondered disci– plinary action against the students, the fraternity issued an apology. "The event...was meant to inspire our new initiates," stated the apology. "Obviously, the fiery cross...was not a good choice and we regret our actions." USD's public relations office sent letters of apology to about 35 leaders of San Diego's minority community on behalf of vacation– ing President Author E. Hughes. The letter, which said "the incident has offended the conscience of the campus community," seemed to heal some wounds. Still, that meant wounds had been opened. "It shocked me," recalls Rev. George Walker Smith, a promi– nent leader in San Diego's black community and pastor of Christ United Presbyterian Church. "I can't imagine anyone... being ignorant about the racist over– tones of a burning cross." Morris Casuto, director of San

Diego's Anti-Defamation League, was conciliatory but said the incident "reveals the ignorance which the young are heir to. It must be counteracted, however, through education." Rev. Smith also suggested that the university "needs to be concerned about this from the president's office on down," a concern perhaps already antici– pated by USD's public promise to initiate workshops this fall aimed at sensitizing students to intercul– tural relations. Dr. Hughes, clearly angered, pledged to keep communications open on the incident between USD and the community. "The quality of an institution has less to do with the mistakes it makes than with the magnanimity with which it publicly acknowl– edges them and works authenti– cally to prevent their recurrence," he says. "You can tell the strength of a tree by how tall it stands in the storm. "

Naugle uses the computer, which comes equipped with a voice-synthesizer, to work on his two novels, his poetry and his master's thesis in English litera– ture. So he was understandably devastated when the computer apparently was stolen from Cop– ley Library during finals week in May. "I was completely earth-shat– tered," he remembers. "I felt a

Mike Naugle and Sigh.

sense of violation, a level of trust was really hurt." But instead of lamenting his fate, the action– oriented Naugle p laced posters throughout campus asking for the return of his writing tool. The response from the USD community was immediate. Devin Milner, head of the reference de– partment at Copley Library, says several students asked him if there was a fund they could con– tribute to or if they could start one to replace the computer. "I've been here 11 years and this is the nicest thing I've ever seen happen," Milner says. Naugle was touched by the groundswell of support. "It was an occasion in which a lot of interest and compassion and generosity were evident," he says. There is a happy ending to the story, too. Naugle's computer wasn't stolen at all. He had mis– placed it at the library, where it was found later by a cleaning crew. The crew locked it in a cabinet for safekeeping, but forgot to tell security until the next day.

well intentioned fraternity ceremony based on the Roman Emperor Constantine's vision of a burning cross. That may be true . But USD Vice President for Student Affairs Tom Burke seethed as he moved quickly to ban use of the burning cross by any student organi– zations. "The students' actions...demonstrate poor judgment," he wrote in a prepared statement. "And while the ritual is apparently not rooted in bigotry.. .our

The IO most popular maiors at USD Based on Registrar statistics, February 1989. Data does ·not include 1,269 undeclared students.

NUMBER OF STUDENTS

MAJOR

Business Administration International Relations

678 204 186 148 139 138 117

Communications

Accounting

Political Science

Psychology

English Biology

99 99 62

Diversified Liberal Arts Business Economics

students need to be sensitized to what the burning cross means as a symbol in 20th century America." According to state park rangers, the students entered

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