UCLA Takes Active Response to Student's Online Racist Rant
The video of the student complaining about Asian students' behavior and mimicking an Asian language first surfaced the day after an earthquake and tsunami rocked Japan.
 Self-proclaimed UCLA Student, Alexandra Wallace (YouTube / March 14, 2011) |
WESTWOOD (KTLA) -- UCLA Chancellor Gene Block posted a recorded statement condemning the video posted by a student complaining about and mocking Asians.
By the time the chancellor's statement was posted to YouTube, the same place where the controversy began, it was just one of many videos on the subject. Some were light-hearted, others angry; some were politically correct, others as crude as the original.
UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh, an expert on the 1st Amendment, asserts that Alexandra Wallace, the UCLA student who ranted about "Asians in the library" during a three-minute video clip, was stating her opinion -- albeit an offensive one -- but did not advocate violence or harass anyone.
"I am appalled by the thoughtless and hurtful comments of a UCLA student posted on YouTube," Chancellor Block said in a recent statement. "Like many of you, I recoil when someone invokes the right of free expression to demean other individuals or groups."
In a letter to the Daily Bruin Friday, Wallace said she has chosen to no longer attend the university, reportedly because she had received death threats following the release of the video.
The letter, which was sent to the newspaper by a representative of Wallace, said that she was trying to be humorous, but amid fears for her safety, she has decided she will no longer take classes at the school.
Earlier Friday UCLA administrators said they did not plan on seeking disciplinary action against Wallace.
"While we were appalled and offended by the sentiments expressed in the video, we have uncovered no facts to lead us to believe the student code of conduct was violated. The campus has no intention of pursuing the matter further," UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton.
In the nearly three-minute video, Wallace rants about the "hordes of Asian people that UCLA accepts into our school."
Wallace claims not to be talking about her 'cool' Asian friends, but goes on to describe other Asians at UCLA as spoiled, rude and unintelligible.
Campus police tell the 'Daily Bruin' that the political science major, has sought the protection of campus police after she received several calls and emails from people threatening revenge.
UCPD spokeswoman Nancy Greenstein says police advised her to take a number of precautions and are currently working to ensure her safety.
Phil Gussin, Wallace's political science professor, told the newspaper that Wallace contacted him with concern about how she would take her finals.
Gussin said Wallace told him that police advised her to reschedule her final exams in light of the death threats and information posted online that listed her class schedule and exam locations.
The video first surfaced Friday, the day an earthquake and tsunami rocked Japan.
And, Wallace even noted the disaster in her posting, "I swear they're going through their whole families, just checking on everybody from the tsunami thing. ... Like, you seriously should go outside if you're going to do that."
Wallace mimics an Asian student answering a cell phone in the school's library by saying, "Ohhhhhhhh! Ching chong ling long ting tong! Ohhhhhhh!"
"Hi. In America, we do not talk on our cell phones in the library!" she rants.
Wallace issued an apology through UCLA's newspaper, the Daily Bruin, saying she couldn't explain why she made the remarks.
"Clearly the original video posted by me was inappropriate," she said. "I cannot explain what possessed me to approach the subject as I did, and if I could undo it, I would."
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