Things are a little tense on the campus of Towson University in Maryland as a student, Matthew Heimback is interested in starting a new organization on campus: White Student Union. Heimback says that white students deserve a club meant exclusively for them, and defends his reasoning in the university newspaper.
“We want to replicate what every student union does on campus,” Heimback was quoted as saying in the paper, with a picture of him holding a Confederate flag in front of Martin Luther King Jr.’s church in Montgomery, AL.
Many students are outraged, and even staff members disapprove. Julian Carroll, a junior at Townson University, insists that “there is a difference between a White Student Union and a Black Student Union based on the history of America.” Heimbach started his first student organization at the college, Youth for Western Civilization, and garnered negative attention when the club started writing white pride messages in chalk on campus. Communications professor Richard Vatz, resigned as the club’s advisor after realizing the true motives of the group.
An application to start the White Student Union has yet to be submitted, but will not be approved if it’s found to be discriminatory. Heimbach claims 17 students have shown interest in joining so far.
Click here to view a news segment on the story from Baltimore’s WJZ.
BMWK family, what do you think about the idea of a “white student union”? Are black student unions outdated? Were you a member of a BSU on your campus? How did it benefit you?
Aja Dorsey Jackson says
My alma mater..smh. It is definitely just an attention-grabbing technique. He wants everyone to get all up in arms about it so that he and the other white students involved can pull the “oh woe is me, white people can’t have the same stuff blacks can” and make a national issue out of it. I say let him have it, and since it can’t be “discriminatory,” the black students should all join.
Briana Myricks says
Great point Aja. When you attended Townson, did you feel that whites weren’t represented on the campus?
Raymond Bryson says
The outrage to this student’s proposal is oh so predictable in today’s PC driven world and especially on a college campus where critical thinking skills are at a minimum.
If this student were Hispanic, a woman, or a homosexual, he would likely have the full support of the administration, faculty, and a majority of the students “of color”.
But because he’s White, how dare him wanting to engage in the time honored tradition of freedom of association.
The real issue here in my opinion isn’t why he wants to do it. Rather it is does he have the right to do it. My answer is a resounding yes and he doesn’t need any justification or explanation. He is, therefore he can!
dave wells says
A white club on campus. Wow, what a racist thing to have, right ? Why would any rational thinking person think that way ?
dave wells says
I have wondered why it is that when a non white person or group wants to favor their own kind/race in public, they get pounced upon. This is the true face of discriminatory racism in America. What about equality for whites ? When someone says that whites cant have the same privileges as non whites, they are being bigoted discriminatory ray-sists and should at least admit the hypocracy of their stance ~
Rene Scherger says
Offensive? NO Justified? Irrelevant Natural right? Absolutely
Mstr Rick says
I think white people should be able to organize and advance their own interests just like every other group of people. Every ethnic group in America is taught to be proud of their race and ethnicity, except white people. America has black television channels, black magazines, black student organizations, black lobbying groups, black scholarships and black barber shops.
These groups recognize that they share some common ancestry and some common interests, and they organize to assert those interests. A multicultural, multiracial, melting pot society that forbids only one ethnic group from preserving its culture and organizing to further its own interests is criminally hypocritical.
Challenging this deeply entrenched anti-white bias is a moral imperative. I’m white, and I’m proud of my white heritage, culture, and history, as I should be.