Controversy over Caucasian club
Club adviser says, 'It's a joke'
Christine Karavas
Issue date: 3/10/08 Section: News
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"It's not been done before," said Kaidor. "There are peoples of Caucasian descent who do have cultures and they're worthy of celebration in the same way any other culture is."
The adviser for the club is Rudy Ramirez, CSM ethnic studies professor. "It's a frivolous sort of approach to create dialogue," said Ramirez.
"The stigma with having a Caucasian club, if you will, is, what is the image it conjures? Some cross burnings? Lynchings?... I want to get that out in the open and have some type of forum for people to have a rational discussion," said Ramirez.
Kaidor reported that has already found 10 students interested in joining the club, the majority of which are not of Caucasian descent. He is in the process of drafting the club constitution, which is a formality required to create a campus club.
"Very technically speaking, a Caucasian is a person whose descent, whose ancestry goes back to the peoples of the Caucuses mountains… Someone with that sort of ancestry is Caucasian," said Kaidor.
CSM has never had a Caucasian club before, but according to the San Francisco Chronicle, a high-school student in Oakley, California who attempted to create a similar club in 2003 was accused of starting a racist group and chose to transfer to another school. Kaidor was quick to deny any racism behind the establishment of the club.
"Any group within a public institution has the right to peaceably assemble for any reason that they wish as long as they're not breaking federal or state or local law," said Kaidor, "There does exist a set of double standards that say it's ok for certain groups of people to peaceably assemble, but it's not ok for another group of people to peaceably assemble if it's called the Caucasian Cultures Club… the CCC."
Many students agree with Kaidor. Tim Palladino, 19, film major, said, "I think that, if there's a club for other races, like the Asian club or the black club or the whatever club, it should be alright. I don't see why not. It's not like we're burning crosses or anything like that."
Eddie Elder, 19, business management major, said, "That's their own business. If they want to start a little something-something, they got the right to do that."
Viewing Comments 1 - 6 of 8
Seth Oakley
posted 3/12/08 @ 8:58 PM PST
Way to go Matt. I commend you for standing up for equality in California, and especially in the Bay Area. Let me know how I can start an SFSU chapter. (Continued…)
Mike Rogers
posted 3/29/08 @ 10:41 AM PST
I think this club is great idea, minus the name which may illicit racist thoughts of the KKK. (I think the name should be changed)But, as a white person of British decent, I feel I have no cultural club to join at CSM or at many of the colleges in California. (Continued…)
Craig
posted 5/16/08 @ 12:01 PM PST
What the heck does "caucasian" have to do with the KKK? Is that what Politically Correct thinkers automatically jump to? Do you also think of low riders and Mexican jumping beans when you think of latinos? Or watermelons when you think of black people? Comon. (Continued…)
Cyn Stern
posted 9/21/08 @ 2:23 PM PST
As I understand it, a "club" is intended to be an association of people who have common interests and/or experiences. When forming a "club," one would, ideally, have a club theme that is broad-enough to attract enough interested people to sustain it while narrowing the theme just-enough so that members would have a lot in common and would all be enthusiastic participants in the club's activities. (Continued…)
Vivek Golikeri
posted 7/25/09 @ 6:49 PM PST
I don't know where this ridiculous idea of using "caucasian" to mean of European race began. Both culturally and physically, the nationalities of the Caucasus region are much closer to the people of north-west Iran rather than to those of northwestern Europe. (Continued…)
Jason
posted 2/18/10 @ 3:47 PM PST
Caucasian Club www.caucasianclub.com .... coming soon.
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