CONSEQUENCES
“It seems extreme but at the same time we’re making a point.” - Kayla Fratt
Kayla Fratt, senior.
“I think expelling them, a) made them into martyrs and b) actually made students of color more of target on campus.” - Emily Lucas
Emily Lucas, junior.
Later that week, as kids were preparing to leave for Fall break, it was announced that two students, junior Thaddeus Pryor and sophomore Lou Henriques, had claimed responsibility for certain inflammatory YikYak posts. They were allegedly reported to the administration by another student and subsequently confessed to writing the posts. Pryor admitted to writing the reply comment to “#blackwomenmatter” with “They matter, they’re just not hot.” Henriques admitted to posting the image from South Park displaying “N_GGERS” as well as posting “RACE WAR” multiple times in quick succession. Pryor was initially suspended for two years and not allowed to take college courses elsewhere during that time. Henriques, who had a previous record of offenses, was given the option to withdraw and leave the school without an expulsion on his record. While the students only admitted to posting those specific Yaks they were posted among the other somewhat more racist comments. It is still unclear who was responsible for those.
Word on campus spread quickly about the disciplinary action taken against the students, who were relatively well known on campus. While previously, the general precedent on campus was one of outrage over the initial posts, it quickly appeared to transform into outrage over the disciplinary action. YikYak was quickly flooded with posts arguing that the punishment was too harsh and that the administration had overstepped their bounds. Many people also mentioned the fact that two of the posts were “just South Park jokes,” which was interestingly not part of the conversation before it was revealed who the two students were. Many other South Park references were posted on YikYak in protest.
Although the majority of students seemed to hold the opinion that the punishments were too harsh and not productive, opinions still remained divided. Emily Lucas stated, “I think expelling them a) made them into martyrs, and b) actually made students of color more of a target on campus. There were lots of posts afterwards blaming those of us that had organized the assembly, blaming students of color in general, or anyone who dared speak up about racism on campus after these guys getting expelled. It completely derailed and side-tracked the conversation, even the positive and productive conversations that were happening, and turned it all into a mess.”
CC students were not the only ones to take part in the controversy. On Nov. 25th, The Gazette, the local Colorado Springs, Colo. newspaper, published an article detailing the disciplinary situation. They had previously published two articles covering the initial YikYak posts and the school’s subsequent racial initiatives. On Dec. 1st, Pryor called Gazette journalist Debbie Kelly. He revealed that had appealed his two year suspension and gave the following statement in regards to his YikYak reply. "It could be considered as mean, but I did not mean it as hateful or violent or anything of that sort."
On Dec. 7th, an article on Pryor’s punishment was published on The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s website. The article was an editorial piece titled “Colorado College Suspends Student for Two Years for Six-Word Joke on Yik Yak” and included a link to email President Tiefenthaler “to urge her and the Colorado College administration to uphold its promises of freedom of speech on campus by reversing the charges and sanctions applied to Pryor for his protected speech.”
The article was posted on Reddit, garnering nearly 3000 upvotes and 1600 comments, most of them expressing outrage and disdain for the Colorado College administration, based off the highly opinionated piece. In the article Pryor gave the following statement. “In an academic climate that has become increasingly censored, the expression of a preference, in my case even a joking preference, is being squashed with impunity. A two year suspension during which I am prohibited from studying elsewhere is unwarranted and unreasonable. I made a six word comment that I freely admitted to authoring, thinking honesty was the first step to helping the community get past the incident. I support constructive discipline, but I believe the school’s reaction neither educates me on my act of insensitivity, nor benefits the community, nor consoles offended students, to whom I am extremely sorry.” Other high profile media outlets were quick to pick up the story.
In an email sent on Dec. 10th, President Tiefenthaler described a number of active steps the school is taking toward “strengthening our community.” Among them were the announcement of additional open dialogue circles, employee diversity training, and the creation of a Student Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board.
On Dec. 14th, The College Fix published an article containing a response to Pryor’s appeal. VP of student life and dean of students Mike Edwards, starts off the letter stating, “I see no grounds for an appeal.” and “No grounds for a new hearing.” However, he goes on to state that he is shortening the suspension from two years, until just the end of the 2015-1016 school year.