The controversy surrounding the photographs posted last week on the Web site of the Penn State College Republicans' chair has caused the resignation of at least one member and many statements and apologies from others. Leaders of the group met with university administrators to discuss the gravity of the situation.
Brian Battaglia, the group's chairman, said he met with Vice President of Student Affairs Vicky Triponey this weekend to discuss possible resolutions to the situation and group members' safety on campus.
"There is definitely a double standard," he said. "Our members and the officers and myself really do feel threatened almost more than [Black Caucus does]. I think they're using this to their political advantage and the threats are actually against conservatives at this point."
Penn State President Graham Spanier in a written statement Friday called the photographs "patently offensive to anyone with a modicum of decency." While the Web site is protected by the First Amendment, he said, they are unacceptable by appropriate standards.
The photographs, which appeared on Battaglia's Web site, http://botag. net, depicted an "oversodomized frat pledge," "sorostitutes," and an unidentified white man wearing blue bed sheets with a caption referring to the Ku Klux Klan. A fourth photograph showed a white man in blackface and a bicycle chain over his shoulder, mocking Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and former Black Caucus Vice President Takkeem Morgan.
The College Republicans held an emergency meeting Friday night to discuss the situation and voted to support Battaglia, the party's host and owner of the Web site on which the photos were posted.
"As a club, College Republicans hopes that Chairman Battaglia will ignore the calls for his resignation by clubs hostile to the CRs. The members of the College Republicans praise the integrity and vision of Battaglia's leadership and thank him for his continued and steadfast service during stressful times for the club," the statement read.
Late Thursday, College Republicans Treasurer Cathy Carré resigned from her position because said she could not support group members' actions; she said she was not at the party and was unaware of the situation until Thursday. Matthew Ritsko, an East Halls senator, said he resigned yesterday because he could not support the group's response to the outcry.
"The actions they've taken haven't reflected the message they should be representing. I don't feel they're in the best interest of the conservative movement," Ritsko said. "It's unfortunate, and I hope both parties will be able to settle their disputes."
Jason Covener, the former USG member who dressed as Morgan, said that while he thinks some of the costumes in question were in poor taste, group members did nothing "beyond the realm of legality."
"There's no way I'm going to apologize," he said.
Matthew Valkovic, Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) vice chairman, another conservative group, said he resigned from his position after his group's meeting Thursday night because he could not endorse YAF's support of the College Republicans or Battaglia.
"The portrayal of Takkeem in blackface and the use of a hood as a Klan member was not freedom of speech, it was hate speech," he said.
Valkovic said he was not in attendance at Battaglia's party.
He added the College Republicans and YAF need to talk with Black Caucus and USG to make amends.
"We're here to get an education, and I think some people have forgotten that and kind of used student groups to run their own agenda," he said.
Sean Clark (senior-political science) said a debate he was moderating between the College Republicans and College Democrats was postponed Thursday night because of a protest Black Caucus members staged beforehand.
Black Caucus President Tiffanie Lewis said the group arrived shortly before the debate was scheduled to begin and began chanting a poem and praying.
"We said we would not support their existence on Penn State's campus," she said.
Battaglia said a member of Black Caucus threatened members of the College Republicans. He said the man turned to the group when leaving the debate and said someone would die, but it wouldn't be him.
Lewis said the Republicans misunderstood his statement, and the member was voicing unsafe feelings by telling the College Republicans he would not be a victim.
She added that Black Caucus felt disrespected by the College Republicans' claims of victimization "in a situation they ignited on campus."
Clark, a former YAF chair, said the protestors violated university policy by disrupting an academic event, and a statement released late yesterday said the College Republicans were considering filing charges with the Office of Judicial Affairs.
The Undergraduate Student Government issued two written statements on Friday condemning the actions by student leaders attending the party. Five USG members were at the party -- Frank Camarota, governmental relations director; Julia Graham, USG Supreme Court justice; and Sens. Andy Banducci, Vicky Cangelosi and Ritsko.
In separate written statements yesterday, Banducci and Cangelosi both expressed regret over the offensive photographs, but both reiterated that they were not in the controversial costumes and do not endorse them.
Banducci added he only felt responsible for his own actions.
Camarota did not return phone calls seeking comment yesterday. Tiffany Iriana, also a College Republicans member, spoke for Graham, and said she would not comment on the situation except through a lawyer. All five were in photographs on the Web site, which spanned five pages, but none appeared in the controversial photos.
Two press conferences addressing the issue are scheduled for today -- one held by the College Republicans at 11:30 a.m. in the HUB-Robeson Center and another by Black Caucus at noon in the HUB.
