The ink is barely dry on the Oct. 5 edition of The Daily Collegian and already I have received nearly a dozen e-mails regarding Daryl Lang's article on STAR's latest rally against Judicial Affairs.

Most of the e-mails attack the article as "biased" and "out of context," three of them make accusations such as "Mr. Hyneman you are obviously a racist and a white supremacist."

Let me assert unequivocally, that neither assertion is true. To the persons who made the later charges (of racism, etc ...), I can only state that obviously you were not at the rally, did not hear my speech and know nothing of my marriage, or the racial makeup of my family, both immediate and extended, or my ancestry.

Mr. Lang asserted that I am white and that is a reasonable assumption for him to make. Technically, however, federal jurisprudence provides us with two definitions of race. One (lesser used), is the U.S. Supreme Court's 1/64 standard. The other, provided more recently by the Department of Labor, is the 1/16 standard. Using the former standard, I am mix raced; using the latter, I am white. White is how I check the boxes on employment applications and I take no offense to Mr. Lang making that assertion, although I suggest he take care in making such assertions in the future as not everyone will be as forgiving as I.

Mr. Lang characterized our statements at the rally as "personal attacks." While this term is somewhat ambiguous, it is not altogether untrue. For the first time in the three months that we have been working to change the Penn State judicial system, we named names and stated specifically where we believe specific administrators are being remiss in their duties, and which university policies they violated.

For example, I stated that Penn State President Graham Spanier has released information from the disciplinary folders of the "Osmond 5," thus violating university Policy and possibly federal privacy law. While I would call that "a specific charge against a specific administrator of violating a specific policy" I have to admit that Mr. Lang's expression "personal attack," generates more readership. That is his job. He was not untruthful; he acted within the standard practice of the student press.

As for the most serious part of the article, my "Missa Spanier" tirade: Yes it could have been given more context, and it would have been especially helpful if he had included the entire spiel, instead of eliminating the final three words, "Toby be good." But the article was already over 1,000 words long and it was accompanied by three pictures. Cuts had to be made somewhere. I accept that Mr. Lang and his editors did the best job they could.

In the context in which the quote was printed, especially given the elimination of the final three words, a reader could miss the point that I was drawing parallels to a specific character from a famous mini-series and instead assume that I was using stereotypes. The character, Toby/Kunte is a proud black man who, being beaten and humiliated by his white master, eventually capitulates and does his master's bidding without question or defiance.

For the record, Vice Provost Terrell Jones had, throughout his career, established a record as a strong advocate for free speech and against discrimination of all types. In recent months, no fewer than nine students have alleged that Judicial Affairs is discriminating against them for reasons "unrelated to their performance or ability," as per University Policy AD-42. They allege Judicial Affairs is persecuting them because of their political beliefs and potential embarrassment they may have caused the university.

Jones' office is responsible for investigating all such matters. On July 11, I personally informed Jones of five of those allegations. No investigation has visibly begun and I accused then as I do now that Jones has capitulated his own beliefs and is remiss in his duty to fulfill the terms of AD-42.

Those who listen to Radio Free Penn State know that I never miss an opportunity to bash the Collegian for bias or out-of-context reporting.

This is simply not such an opportunity.

Yes, many readers have and will misinterpret the article. They will jump to conclusions and make accusations. When I got involved in the muck and rustle of student politics in the first place, I recognized that this sort of thing will happen. I do not blame Mr. Lang and I do not blame the Collegian. They were doing their jobs the best way they know how.