ASU radio station board votes to remove manager over tweet about Kenosha police shooting victim

Blaze Radio at Arizona State University announced on Monday that its board of directors voted to remove Rae’Lee Klein, the station manager, from her position at the radio after she tweeted on Saturday about Jacob Blake, who was shot by a police officer and paralyzed on Aug. 23 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The student-run radio station is operated by ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The unanimous vote to remove Klein from the station came after backlash on social media from Cronkite students and others.

Cronkite leadership is working with Blaze Radio students to try to resolve the situation, Cronkite spokesperson Karen Bordeleau said Tuesday afternoon.

On Saturday, Klein tweeted a link to a New York Post article and wrote, “Always more to the story, folks. Please read this article to get the background of Jacob Blake’s warrant. You’ll be quite disgusted.”

The article included graphic details from the police report for a sexual assault Blake is accused of committing earlier this year. A Kenosha Police Association attorney has said responding officers were aware Blake had a warrant out for his arrest for a charge he is facing of felony third-degree sexual assault.

Numerous Cronkite students replied to Klein, many saying it seemed like she was trying to justify police shooting Blake. Klein later deleted the tweet.

Nicole Shinn, vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists at ASU and a junior at Cronkite, said she was angry when she saw Klein’s tweet.

“Quoting the New York Post as a reputable source just kind of meant that she was throwing all of the education that we've gotten out the window, and it was kind of obvious that she just wanted to make a negative statement,” Shinn said. “She was trying to scapegoat a victim, she was trying to undermine the Black Lives Matter movement. To me, it seemed like she didn't care.”

Klein posted an apology on her Twitter saying her tweets were not associated with the radio station, the Cronkite School or ASU.

“It was not my intent to make an excuse for what happened to Jacob Blake. The incident is tragic in every sense of the word. The point of my tweet was to provide an additional perspective,” she said in a tweet on Saturday. “I apologize to anyone who I may have offended.”

Later Saturday, Blaze Radio released a statement that it did not condone Klein's tweet and that "Blaze Radio firmly believes Black Lives Matter."

“The board gave Klein an opportunity to step down under her own will. As of the time of this statement, Klein has not made the decision to resign,” the station posted Monday. “In light of this, the board wants to make it clear that we do not recognize Rae’Lee Klein as the station manager of Blaze Radio."

Jordan Spurgeon, a Cronkite student and production director of Blaze Radio, clarified Tuesday that Klein was not officially removed as station manager.

“As a board of directors, we voted to no longer recognize her as station manager, since she chose not to resign," Spurgeon said. "We are all waiting to find out what will actually happen.”

It's not clear when a decision will come. Spurgeon said, "As of now, we haven’t been given any answers as far as a timeline for a decision goes.”

Klein told The Arizona Republic on Monday night that, to her understanding, she has not been removed from her position.

“I feel that people thought I meant that Jacob Blake was disgusting, but that was not at all the intent,” Klein said. “I really meant that what had happened to the woman in the report was disgusting.”

“I don’t think there’s a person alive who would say that what happened to Blake is OK,” Klein said.

Klein said her tweets were misinterpreted because of the “mob mentality” and “cancel culture” of Twitter.

"This will be a learning lesson for everybody on how what you say online can be misinterpreted," Klein said.

“This will definitely make me think about how I phrase things going forward," Klein said. "But this doesn’t at all change my beliefs or my moral compass.”

Journalism students condemn tweet

Numerous ASU students studying journalism denounced Klein's tweet.

The student group Walter Cronkite College Council called Klein's tweets "factually misleading, discriminatory and racist" and said she "has potentially caused the harm and exclusion of students of color, specifically Black students."

Kiarra Spottsville is the president of the National Association of Black Journalists at ASU and part of the Multicultural Student Journalists Coalition, which she said is hoping to make structural changes within the Cronkite school and its policies.

Spottsville said when she saw the tweet, she was upset but not surprised because she spoke to Klein at the beginning of summer about another post Klein made on Instagram that she interpreted as criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement.

“For one of my peers to go on social media and make a post trying to diminish and take away from that movement is extremely disappointing,” Spottsville said.

Spottsville said that when students of color post about race-related issues, "you feel scared that you might lose your leadership position, you might lose credibility as a journalist, things like that could happen because you decide to speak out on Black Lives Matter or because you support your own community.”

"There's no accountability for Rae’Lee if she didn't lose her position," Spottsville said.

"As a person of color, to see that hatred toward Black people was just absolutely appalling to me," said Joycelyn Cabrera, a junior studying journalism at the Cronkite School.

“This is supposed to be a place where everybody has the same opportunity and everyone is looked at equally," said Cabrera. "I am really appreciative of the Cronkite student leadership who spoke up.”

ASU and Cronkite did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

I picture the journalism school at ASU to be populated by hot cheerleaders on the six year program who aspire to be the weather girl on an LA local station.

Trae Young will be a bust. Book It!

Good to see we are attacking the young people with whom we do not agree politically.

Wait what now ?

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-education/2020/09/01/asu-radio-station-removes-student-manager-raelee-klein/5675734002/



What is factually misleading, discriminatory, and racist about the police report detailing the sexual assault charges against Blake?

Spottsville wants to make structural changes within the school, which seems to mean that anything a person says that she interprets as critical of BLM will cost that person their job.

How was Klein's tweet indicative of hatred towards black people?

The college radio station manager above. What, was she 21? None of the professionals at ASU seem to have stood up for her.

For instance they were never taught that Columbus was a slave owner.

That firing bothers me. That article is not some right wing conspiracy, although the article is something that is supported by right of center people. Both sides are really getting to the point of sticking fingers in their ears when it comes to dissenting view points.

Blake’s outstanding warrant is important because it gives police a legal reason to not just let him drive away. Now of course, these officers took it way too far with disproportionate force. But I would contrast this with the taser/drive through shooting where that guy probably should have been left to flee and get him at a later time.

Blake should not have been allowed to leave that scene.

This whole fucking mess.

For instance they were never taught that Columbus was a slave owner.

when cancel culture goes sideways:

Has gangsta rap been cancelled? Are the lyrics still about bitches and niggas? Rock and rap stars could pretty much say anything the late 90's. How things have changed in the last 20 years.

its funny u mention that. i was listening to the radio station here which has old rap songs like from the 90s/2000s. sort of like classic rap nowadays.

there was a song on by ice cube i really liked. i dont' remember the name. but i did not know there was a censored/non-censored version of this song at the time. the station played the clean version.

I wanted to hear it again and typed it into youtube and the non-censored version came on. i didnt know until I heard the lyrics - omg, it was shocking . Song had like N word used several times, calling women bitches, references to male sodomy, it was way too much. I stuck with the clean version. Wish i remembered the songs name.

The menstrual cycle changes among Hassidic Jewish women was something as well.

Yet, it is far more alarming to see an ACLU official rallying people against a young man whose chief offense appears to be that he is publicly (and unapologetically) conservative and pro-life.

Crankshaw went to Facebook to alert people that Sandmann would be attending the college and expressing veiled outrage that the school would admit someone with his opposing views. He warns that this kid is “more dangerous” than figures like Milo Yiannopolous. The “danger” is that a young freshman holds conservative views that are shared by roughly half of this country:

Does anyone else think it’s a bit of a stain on Transylvania University for accepting Nick Sandman? I’m sure it’s a “both sides” defense, but it’s pretty counter to their mission and another instance of there not actually being equal sides to an issue. I think TU should accept anyone willing to have an open mind and engage in debate, regardless of their views. That’s how we all learn. That’s Transy’s mission…

Having experienced the incredibly high standards Transy requires for admission and then holds its students to, this seems like a slap in the face. I hope some time in a real classroom changes him, but his twitter and public persona suggest otherwise.

...

One person responding positively was Dr. Avery Tompkins, an Assistant Professor and Diversity Scholar at Transylvania University, acknowledged that the university supported diverse viewpoints but promised to closely monitor Sandmann while he is on campus: “If he were to cause problems by being disruptive, trolling, or engaging in unethical behavior of any kind, I would immediately document it (just like I would for any student doing the same thing)…and he would just be putting himself in a position for me to file a conduct report.”

I want to apologize for my mistake in singling out a student and any misunderstandings that arose from that. One of my favorite things about working at a liberal arts institution is that the University community has diverse perspectives. All students, faculty, and staff are able to engage in civil discourse with those whose views may be different from their own, and to learn about those views in an academic setting. I value and support these conversations with students, and I know that students value these conversations with their peers as well.

Rap has been cancelled for at least the last 7 years.

The Columbia University Marching Band, which dated to 1904, had developed a wide reputation over the years for its irreverent, quirky performances at Lions football and basketball games.

It had served as the irrepressible court jester to the university’s staid administration, and, at times, had offended students and the wider campus community with its jokes.

The band had an antagonistic relationship with the administration, which banned it from football games last year and tried to stamp out its mischievous tradition of bursting into a campus library each semester to entertain stressed-out students on the eve of finals.

But the latest news from the band was more startling. Its board announced on Monday that after 116 years of performing it was disbanding, citing “a history riddled with offensive behavior.”

The behavior did not pertain to its ongoing lampooning of university policies and officials but more serious self-levied charges — posted in a statement on the band’s Facebook page — that the band had long been rife with “sexual misconduct, assault, theft, racism and injury to individuals and the Columbia community as a whole.”

The decision highlights the intense atmosphere on college campuses across the country as students scrutinize behavior and incidents that might have attracted less attention in the past. But it also touched off a backlash from alumni of the marching band, who disputed claims that it engaged in actions that were offensive to people of color or women.

In a statement, Columbia University officials said, “We respect efforts of the band’s student leadership to address in a serious manner recent reports of offensive and unacceptable conduct entirely at odds with the values of our university.”

The band’s statement did not provide any details of specific episodes. Instead, it described a virtual meeting held on Saturday among more than 20 band members “to discuss numerous anonymous postings and allegations of” misconduct.

After that discussion, the band decided “unanimously and enthusiastically” to dissolve itself, the statement said.

“The Columbia University Marching Band apologizes for insult and injury victims have experienced as a result of actions perpetrated in its name,’’ the band’s statement said.

Its announcement, first reported by the Columbia Daily Spectator, came after numerous postings on a Facebook page called Columbia Confessions, which included a range of complaints and accusations, including band members using a Native American war cry at a game, personal accounts from former band members of lewd behavior, binge drinking and sexual harassment at band gatherings and parties and sex involving band members who were too drunk to give their consent.

On Tuesday, more than half a dozen current and recent band members either refused to comment or did not respond to messages.

But the Columbia University Band Alumni Association, made up of former band members, said in a statement that they “categorically reject the characterization of the band’s history made by the members who voted to dissolve the group.”

The association’s president, Samantha Rowan, said the band had “never been a racist or sexist organization, nor has it promoted racism, nor has it fostered sexual harassment, misogyny or cultural oppression.”

The band was “that rare place at Columbia with no barriers to entry — not school affiliation; not race, gender or sexual orientation; not money,” she wrote.

The band, which billed itself as “The Cleverest Band in the World,” claimed to be the nation’s first college “scramble” or non-marching band, and appeared on numerous television talk shows and in feature films.

The complaints, couched as a long overdue institutional confession, seemed to portray a group engaged in indefensible behavior rather than a nerdy ragtag marching band that gleefully retooled Katy Perry songs for its eclectic instrumentation, and taunted opposing teams that they did not know who Plato was.

The band’s board said the band had “maintained a club structure founded on the basis of racism, cultural oppression, misogyny and sexual harassment.”

In its decision to disband, it cited “the injury it has caused to our members and the broader Columbia community.”

The band said that while it has “some tolerance for off-pitch music and corny jokes, we have a zero-tolerance policy for sexual assault” and “do not tolerate any racist, sexist, transphobic or otherwise harmful behavior.”

In a follow-up statement on Monday, the band’s board said that it hoped its dissolution would provide “time to heal from the decades of harm caused by this organization” and to “create a space that allows for the formation of a new spirit group that will provide a safe and inclusive outlet for students to play music at Columbia.”

But the latest news from the band was more startling. Its board announced on Monday that after 116 years of performing it was disbanding, citing “a history riddled with offensive behavior.”

]

its funny u mention that. i was listening to the radio station here which has old rap songs like from the 90s/2000s. sort of like classic rap nowadays.

there was a song on by ice cube i really liked. i dont' remember the name. but i did not know there was a censored/non-censored version of this song at the time. the station played the clean version.

I wanted to hear it again and typed it into youtube and the non-censored version came on. i didnt know until I heard the lyrics - omg, it was shocking . Song had like N word used several times, calling women bitches, references to male sodomy, it was way too much. I stuck with the clean version. Wish i remembered the songs name.

Classic JORR. Lives like a heathen but gets cover from his buddies like you. Guy's got it figured out

I was a little ahead of the curve here. Uber-Atheist Richard Dawkins has suddenly realized what a world without Christianity might look like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COHgEFUFWyg