Thread: NYU Students Plan 'Illegal Immigrant' Game

NYU Students Plan 'Illegal Immigrant' Game

'College Republicans' Already Taking Heat All Over Campus


Tanya Rivero
Reporting

(CBS) NEW YORK A controversial "game" being played Thursday at NYU by a Republican student group has sparked accusations of racism and is causing an uproar on campus.

The game, appropriately (or inappropriately, depending on how you look at it) called "Find The Illegal Immigrant," asks participants to search the campus for the "illegal immigrant," and if you do, you'll win a prize. Sponsored by the NYU College Republicans, it's scheduled to be played tomorrow.

"It's racist, and embarrassing for NYU," law student Marcus Amelkin says.

No illegal immigrants are actually involved in the game, organizer Richard Rossi says. Rather, the game is meant to inspire dialogue and it's in that spirit that the university is tolerating it.

Many students, however, are miffed at the school's liberal attitude toward the game.

"I think it's offensive," Eugenia Kuri, a senior at NYU who is an international student from Mexico. "The way they are trying to make their point, a lot of people die trying to cross the border every day. I don't think it should be made a joke of."

The NYU College Republicans are not the first student group to play the controversial game. Students at several other campuses have played versions of the game that were just as controversial, prompting the Republican National Committee to denounce the game and call it offensive.

"I think they have a right to express themselves, even if some people don't agree with it. You have a right to, I mean it's a college campus," sophomore Paloma Soto says.

Soto shares the position of the NYU administration who released a statement explaining why they're allowing the game. Spokesman John Beckman writes:

"At universities, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas -- even difficult and unpopular ideas -- is a key mission. We hope the debates will be conducted with respect and civility, and will be driven by an impulse to provoke thought rather than anger. Illegal immigration is a totally appropriate topic for debate, though this event seems principally calculated to produce outraged reaction rather than dialogue.

"Our inclination is always to support free speech. Just as one group of students will conduct this so-called 'game,' others will be protesting it. At a university, this is exactly the kind of outcome we hope for from engaged students and scholars."

Protests of the game are being organized on the popular college website "Facebook," and if the response to the protest is any indication of what to expect, there will be far more people protesting than playing the game.

"It's not a racist event, first and foremost," said Sarah Chambers, the 21-year-old president of the College Republicans. "Just because we don't want illegal immigrants being able to completely disregard the laws of our country doesn't make us racist."

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http://wcbstv.com/watercooler/local_sto ... 83020.html

"I think it's offensive," Eugenia Kuri, a senior at NYU who is an international student from Mexico. "The way they are trying to make their point, a lot of people die trying to cross the border every day. I don't think it should be made a joke of."

Then they shouldn't be breaking the law by coming here illegally. It isn't our fault that the invaders are dying as they sneak into a country that doesn't want them here in the first place.

Protests of the game are being organized on the popular college website "Facebook," and if the response to the protest is any indication of what to expect, there will be far more people protesting than playing the game.

quiet..... do you hear that whooshing sound? that's our constitutional rights getting flushed.

Well, the Village is blocking off several streets for the PROTESTERS
and this is big news, lol.

The ILLEGAL supporter students are ENRAGED, according to one hispanic student leader.

There is a slideshow also at the link:
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http://media.www.nyunews.com/media/stor ... 7558.shtml

More than 300 protest 'Find the Illegal Immigrant' event
Thomas Garry
Posted: 2/22/07

2/22/06 4:30 p.m. Upwards of 300 protesters flooded Washington Place today to protest an NYU College Republican event, "Find the Illegal Immigrant" - a contest where students signed up to search for a student wearing an "illegal immigrant" name tag to win a gift card. the protesters, calling the event racist, shut down the street for three hours.

In the end, only nine students signed up for the contest, and no one actually won.

Protesters, which included both students and members of the community, circled within barricades across from the Silver Center. The group chanted various slogans, held signs with messages like "No one is illegal," and some even wore name tags that said "illegal immigrant" to disrupt the game.

Groups actively lending their support to the protest included the NYU College Democrats, Students Creating Radical Change, among several other multicultural groups including Latinos Unidos Con Honor Y Amistad.

Media outlets crowded the College Republican table from the moment it was set up shortly after 11 a.m., blocking students from signing up to participate.

Soon after the protest began, NYU Public Safety guards and police officers had to extend the barricade to run the entire block in order to accommodate the growing number of participants.

At one point, Steinhardt senior Zaq Landsberg approached the table holding up a certificate and claimed he had found the illegal immigrant. Landsberg said a protester then proceeded to take the certificate out of his hands and ripped it up. The College Republicans later said, however, that Landsberg did not actually win and that the "immigrant" was still not found.

Around noon, protesters broke out of the barricades and swarmed around the College Republican table chanting "racists out."

But College Republican President Sarah Chambers said the event was not racially motivated.

"By calling us racists, the protesters are implying that there is only one race of immigrants," she said.

University spokesman John Beckman said the although the event was less than ideal, the university continues to support free speech.

"Ideally when we have an exchange of views on this campus, it would be conducted with respect and thoughtfulness," he said. "The 'game' the College Republicans are sponsoring seems calculated to produce outraged reaction rather than dialogue."

The event ended around 2 p.m. after the protesters left the barricades to circle the fountain in Washington Square Park.