PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

racist proff at cmu?
by vincent / blast furnace radio Thursday, Jan. 13, 2005 at 11:47 AM
eirene@lm.com 1-888-NOTOWAR

.

have folk heard of ths guy?
what gives

vincent

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Please see the below article from

http://pittsburgh.dbusinessnews.com/shownews.php?newsid=7890&type_news=past

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Speak Up For Diversity Applauds Carnegie Mellon UniversityPittsburgh -
PITTSBURGH -- Speak Up For Diversity (SUFD) applauds Carnegie Mellon University
(CMU) as it strives to improve relations with African-Americans, women and
minorities.


Dr. Darlene Clark Hine, Professor of History at Michigan State University, and
author of numerous books about Black history, will speak at CMU on Martin
Luther King Jr. Day.


Given the number of recent diversity issues at CMU, SUFD notes that Dr. Hine's
visit may help improve the school's image. In April of 2004, CMU faced scrutiny
when it released an issue of the school newspaper that contained derogatory
remarks. The paper publishing graphic poems about rape, racial slurs in the
form of cartoons, and explicit drawings of female genitalia.


SUFD contends that CMU also harbors one of today's most prolific purveyors of
hate speech. David Touretzky is a research scientist at CMU who proudly conveys
his discriminatory attitudes about women and minorities on the internet. The
school's President, Jared Cohon, defends Touretzky and his statements as
'freedom of speech.'


Touretzky's salary is funded by federal grants, and while working on school
computers, he has been documented making these comments:


"The black underclass is a very, very sick culture ...AA programs can't
help the black underclass, because those people are so [expletive] they're
virtually unemployable."


"Man, Hispanics are (expletive), which is why they're still working class
(expletive)." "She is [California Senator] the former ambassador to
Micronesia! And she's black. I should have known. What are all the really
st00000pid congresswomen black?"


"...we have a high infant mortality rate for a developed country, but it's
not because middle class people's babies are dying. It's because of crack
whores giving birth...but if you want to talk about race.... infant mortality
in the US is much higher for blacks than for whites...there are babies who run
up $500,000 in hospital costs because of their medical problems, which they
wouldn't have if their mother wasn't a crack whore."


Additionally Touretzky has come under scrutiny by SUFD for promoting bomb making
instructions and directions for would-be terrorists.


Dr. Hine's visit represents a departure from CMU's past. Hopefully her presence
will inspire Touretzky and others on the CMU campus who condone and promote
racism.


Information provided by SUFD, which investigates issues that pertain to
minorities, women and religions. It explores injustices, misconceptions and
abuse in government and society.
Posted on:
Thursday, January 13, 2005 04:01 AM

notowar.com

add your comments

touretsky
by matt Friday, Jan. 14, 2005 at 10:42 AM

Dave Touretzky is a well known and controversial figure at CMU. He's genuinely a believer in a kind of "free speech" on the internet and that has made him lots of enemies, including the Church of Scientology, the MPAA, Amway and the FBI.

He's also made enemies with the jingoistic far-right by mirroring Sherman Austin's raisethefist website after the site was taken down and Austin was sent to prison:

http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/raisethefist/

So there is a lot more to this guy than these alleged comments.

I have no idea how credible those quotes given above are. They give no source. This "Speak Up for Diversity" organization appears to be one person in California that just puts out press releases attacking touretsky. The quote from Cohon is surely taken out of context, the "free speech" part was in reference to the many groups that have used legal threats and other tactics to have the university pull Touretsky's website.

I don't know what Touretsky thinks about minorities -- there are lots of people at CMU with very regressive attitudes and have responded to diversity programs with racist rhetoric like that. But there are also people at CMU who genuinely believe there is something wrong with a campus dominated by those born with a racial/gender/economic advantage. It is unclear where he stands. On the one hand, he is a member of progressive organiations like Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility; but he also claims to support Bush, which does put him at odds with every US minority group. So he's not really a progressive guy unless you're talking about free speech or technology issues. It isn't inconceivable that he may have made such statements.

But if someone is going to make an allegation like this, they need to support it with some evidence. Dubious as the allegation is, even if it is true, Touretsky would be far from the only, or biggest right-wing bigot in the CMU faculty -- or administration. ( CMU President Jared Cohon donated money to the now-infamous bigot Senator Rick Santorum)

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