A few weeks ago, the Columbia Kingsmen, an all-male acapella group, posted provocative flyers around campus to publicize their concert. One flyer pictured a member of the group with the caption, “Rape Me.”

Last night, LUCHA, a Columbia social activist organization, sent Bwog their public statement in response to the advertisement. Soon after, Lauren Herold, the coordinator of the Anti-Violence Coalition, informed us that multiple groups in the Anti-Violence Coalition (The Rape Crisis/Anti-Violence Support Center, Take Back the Night, V-Day/The Vagina Monologues, Everyone Allied Against Homophobia, GendeRevolution, IRsexC, Lucha, Q, Nightline, the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and the Panhellenic Council) have also “been addressing the issue over the last few weeks.” Lauren reports that the Coalition recently held a meeting with the Kingsmen, in which they “acknowledged the issues with their flyers and pledged to respond appropriately.” Still, not everyone was offended.

Before posting Lucha’s statement last night, we asked the Kingsmen for a response. You can read both after the jump.

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Lucha, a Columbia service group, has constructed a “Border Wall” to commemorate Immigration Week. Located on Low Plaza, the wall represents the US-Mexico border. Passersby are invited to share their thoughts by writing on the wall.

Photos by Conor Skelding

Late-night news in “Giant Inflatable Penis-gate,” as the queer community has moved quickly to respond to the controversial editorial published in Wednesday’s Spectator. In addition to the factual errors, the editorial is also attracting controversy for alleging that Queer Awareness Month “must be sure to focus on awareness and education before revelry.” The “revelry” in question was Genderfuck, the underwear-only party held this past Saturday night.

Word of the editorial spread quickly through queer organizations on campus. About 20 students (including several leaders of the queer community) commented on the original editorial, and the Spectator uploaded Thursday’s letters to the editor before the rest of the site was updated. In addition, seven student groups have sent a letter to the Spec editorial board, calling the editorial “inaccurate, sensationalized, misinformed, and malicious” and demanding “sufficient space be given in the immediate future to concerned groups and individuals to offer editorial responses.” Finally, plans are already in place for a “kiss-in”/protest at the Spec‘s offices tomorrow at 12:15 PM.

In addition to publishing Thursday’s letters early, the Spec is considering a meeting with queer groups on campus, and a source tells Bwog that editor-in-chief Tom Faure will be penning an explanation of the editorial process in the same issue. The letter from the student groups to the Spec editorial board is posted after the jump.

UPDATE 3:26 AM: Faure’s aforementioned letter is also posted after the jump.

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Lucha, the militant Latino activist group responsible for all those newsprint gravestones on College Walk yesterday, is now in newsprint:  el participante, their fashionably uncapitalized, eight-page newsletter, began distribution on Sunday. “In addition to being a way for Lucha to communicate with the activist community, we hope it can turn into a place for discussion, criticism, and analysis of the left at Columbia,” explained editor Rudi Batzell in an e-mail. 

The first edition, available as a pdf here, contains reports on a recent march on Washington and Jena 6 rally at Bronx Community College, as well as the hunger strike demands and selections from a speech given by Malcolm X a week before his death.

Now all we need is the return of the Citadel…

- LBD

So what’s it like to go six days without food? When Bwog tried asking a hunger striker earlier this afternoon, we were politely redirected to a member of the strikers’ “support team:” according to Jamie Chen, C ’09, the strikers want to “bring attention off of the hunger striking and on to the demands,” which means they weren’t able (willing?) to field questions themselves.

But Gabe Espinal, C ’09, gave Bwog a sense of how the strikers are doing so far. He said that Health Services has been checking up on the strikers multiple times each day and characterized them as being in “decent shape”–although he added that oncoming cold weather is a concern.

Chen and Espinal declined to speculate on how much longer this will last. “Past hunger strikes at Harvard and Georgetown have gone on for almost a month,” said Chen. Will this one? Stay tuned.

Elsewhere in strike-related news: Nick DeGenova has issued a statement of support, complete with his wishes that the strikers’ “example flourish and insipre countless comparable acts of liberation!” Tonight’s vigil will be hosted by Lucha, and will be commemorating all those “killed crossing the US-Mexican border in serach of a better life.” Columbiaphobic folk singer Nellie McKay paid a visit to the tents for a vigil last night; meanwhile hunger striking has been all the rage this week, catching on in such diverse places as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Fiji, India, South Korea and Bahrain. Hopefully the one here won’t go quite as awry as this one.

-ARR

A few who knew that LionPAC had reserved the Sundial for the same time that Lucha and Filasteen were planning a human wall across Low Plaza anticipated a showdown – but would have been disappointed, as the event went down without incident. About 50 people (very roughly speaking), including many of the New York Magazine pantheon, members of BSO, SPeAK, MSA, ISO, Chicano Caucus, and other components of Columbia’s brimming alphabet soup of activism spanned the plaza in an event meant to draw a connection between the Israeli security fence and the Mexican border wall, which organizers view as racist and oppressive. James Brown, Arabic pop music, and short-lived chants of “Free Palestine!” filled the awkward hush between speeches by professor Noha Radwan, students, and a representative of ANSWER, and some of those who stopped by couldn’t help but dance to the largely upbeat music.

It wasn’t supposed to be a red-rover style line. Originally, Filasteen had planned an actual wall, festooned with information and student art. According to an e-mail obtained by Bwog, they ended up $400 short of the the $700 that would cost, and appealed to MEALAC professors for donations to fill the gap. No dice. UPDATE: Sources say that Filasteen actually did get the money together, but they’re saving it for another event.

Of the speeches we managed to catch, one took the philosophical/anthropological stance, linking the walls on the Mexican border and the West Bank to the tendency of dominant powers to seek to block out the “other,” in these cases with physical walls of separation. Filasteen speaker Veli Yasin pointed out that “this is not about undermining Zionism or the Holocaust, this is about… people who are oppressing other people,” and added “thanks…Shalom”. Johanna Ocana of Lucha led Spanish chants for amnesty while the wall disintegrated, and longtime Puero Rican activist Carlito Rovira proclaimed that “these walls will be tumbled down by the will of the
people! Walls have been created by racist police in our communities.”

Meanwhile, LionPAC manned the sundial, handing out cards that said “Israel =/= Apartheid”. President Ari Gardner commented:  “We’re here not to protest, but to present facts… The motivation is not so much an anti-apartheid event, but an anti-wall event… They don’t believe that states should delineate borders.”

- KER & LBD, Photos by Sara Vogel 

Anyone remember four years ago today? No? Well, something happened–the US invaded Iraq, and since then (or so say all the tally marks posted around Low Steps this sunny afternoon), 658,441 people have died. The Dems are collecting your change to send to UNICEF earmarked for Iraqi children on the Plaza until 3:00 PM, and you won’t get away without signing a postcard to send to your congressional representatives. They’ll also ask you to put in a call to the Senate asking them to endorse the Feingold plan for withdrawal.

Kind of a different approach from the Lucha folks, who took a busload down to DC on Saturday to march on the Pentagon. The Dems didn’t even cosponsor that busride, like they did a few months ago, because this one was mixed up with a few other messages.

- LBD