Showdown Threatened At City College

In a story I noted yesterday, student groups are threatening a showdown with City College officials after an observant student noticed that a community room was named after two convicted criminals, Assata Shakur, who was convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper, and the other was Guillermo Morales, who was involved with the FALN terrorist group and escaped from Belleview Hospital while being treated for injuries sustained when a bomb he was working on blew up in his face. Both are now believed to be in Cuba after escaping the country.

The NY Daily News reports (and which Ellis Simon posted here last nite), the City College did not sanction the naming of the room and will be taking steps to remove the name from the room.

The Daily News story further notes:

CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein quickly ordered the sign taken down, saying school trustees never approved it. "We are going to ask [students] to remove it themselves, and if they do not, then we will take appropriate steps," said City College spokesman Ellis Simon.

The center is a gathering spot for left-wing students, decorated with pictures of Che Guevara and angry slogans about President Bush and the war in Iraq.

"I don't know what all the fuss is about," said English literature major Alicia Roberts, 24. "The administration's trying to appease people who might be angry. I was listening to other students talk about it, and nobody seems bothered by it."

But senior Sergey Kadinsky, 22, who first made an issue of the name on campus, said he was pleased by the change.

"Killing a police officer and escaping from prison does not make someone worthy of having a room named after them," Kadinsky said. "Let them tell the family of Werner Foerster she's a good example for students."

Roberts may think no one else is bothered by it because no one knows who the room was named after. Once more people become aware of that fact, you might get a slightly different reaction.

Technorati: pataki, bloomberg, ccny, city college, shakur, morales.