Politics

Pennsylvania College Expels 3 for Racist Radio Broadcast

Published

11 years ago

April 1, 2015

Oakland Post

Bucknell University

MARK SCOLFORO, Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A private Pennsylvania college expelled three students over a campus radio broadcast in which they made racist comments and used a slur.

Bucknell University president John Bravman met with about 1,000 students and staff about the matter on Tuesday, a day after sending a late-night email revealing the expulsions.

“Their conduct is an affront to our values, damaging to our community and in clear violation of our community standards,” he wrote to students, faculty and staff on Monday.

Bravman did not identify the students but shared their comments from a March 20 WVBU-FM broadcast in “the interest of transparency and candor.”

He said one of the students used the N-word, a second said “black people should be dead” and the third said “lynch ’em.”

Bucknell spokesman Andy Hirsch said an inmate a nearby prison heard the comments and reported them to a prisoner advocacy group, the Lewisburg Prison Project. The group then contacted a university faculty member, who alerted the radio station’s adviser.

Hirsch said the school’s senior staff investigated. The students were suspended and interviewed before the dean of students expelled them, he said.

“I would emphasize that the context really doesn’t matter once you see what was said,” Hirsch said.

Hirsch declined to say if alcohol was involved, noting the investigation is not complete.

“I can tell you that there were other people at the station,” he said. “Whether or not they were there at the time when this happened, we’re still looking into all those details.”

Bucknell, a liberal arts school with about 3,600 undergraduates, is located in Lewisburg, about 50 miles north of Harrisburg. The student body is 79 percent white, 5 percent Hispanic, 4 percent Asian and 3 percent African-American.

The Lewisburg Prison Project said an inmate at the federal penitenary in Lewisburg wrote a letter about the comments.

“He didn’t feel this is right and thought something should be done about it,” said David Sprout, a paralegal for the group. Sprout said he did not know what the inmate was serving time for.

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Oakland Post: Week of July 29 – August 4, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 29 – August 4, 2026

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August 1, 2026

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OP-ED: ‘The Trusted Messenger’ and the Black Vote

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Now, as we approach one of the most important Midterm elections in the history of this nation, it appears that, once again, the Black Press will be expected to carry the message about voter turnout, while political and campaign dollars go to the White mainstream media.

Published

3 days ago

July 29, 2026

bpusa-syndication

It is a well-established fact that the Black Press is and always has been the “Trusted Messenger” of the Black community. With that being said, it is also very interesting that when many political organizations and donors decided to support Voter Registration and Get Out The Vote, those donors gave their dollars predominantly to Black organizations like the Urban League, the NAACP, the League of Voters, and other nonprofit groups. Those groups will prepare and send out press releases about such voter participation efforts since Black people were responsible primarily for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

What is most interesting is that those press releases rarely find their way onto CNN or the major news networks. Those press releases and calls to Black voter participation are carried in the Black Press. However, the dollars that support those press releases being written, nor the ads that carry the message of those releases, reach the Black Press. Historically, the dollars behind those messages do not find their way to the very Black Press that carries those messages.

Now, as we approach one of the most important Midterm elections in the history of this nation, it appears that, once again, the Black Press will be expected to carry the message about voter turnout, while political and campaign dollars go to the White mainstream media.

Those who are spending the billions of dollars that will go to Campaign Finance appear to have forgotten that elections are won and lost on a single vote.

Now is the time to remind the candidates, the political Initiatives and Propositions that will appear on the ballots across this nation, that the Black Vote must not be taken for granted. It does not belong to any particular political party or interest group. It can not be judged by whether it exists in a Blue or Red State.

The Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and supporters of Initiatives should not assume that our votes are unimportant.

Elections are won on a single vote.

The United States Supreme Court in Reynolds vs. Sims, 1964. That case established the ‘One Person, One Vote” rule. The rule in that case made it mandatory to base legislative seats on population within districts rather than on geography, and guaranteed Equal Protection coverage under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

That principle has not been abolished, and neither should we act as if our one vote does not count. Let us not forget our own values, and we look toward the Midterm elections. The “Trusted Messenger” can make the difference.