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December 1, 2005EditorialUnfounded accusation makes incident worseThe way Northwestern Michigan College officials told it, their reaction after someone wrote a racial slur on the door of a black student's dorm room was rapid, forceful and decisive.Two students "responsible" for the incident were sanctioned and ordered to move to another dorm, and a non-student was banned from campus. The dismal reality (revealed a couple days later) however, is that NMC got it wrong. Really wrong. Instead of setting things right, officials had managed to malign two students who had nothing to do with the incident and turn the focus away from the important issue of campus race relations. It was, in short, a self-inflicted wound to the college's reputation that left students - and taxpayers - shaking their heads. The incident began when student Krystel Jackson, 18, returned to her room in NMC's West Hall the evening of Nov. 2 and found the phrase "African Tribal Bitch" written on her door in permanent marker. Jackson, who is black, reported the incident to school officials. On Nov. 10, students Elizabeth Feister, 19, of Cadillac, and Kristen Hunter, 19, of Leslie - who lived down the hall from Jackson - received a letter from the college accusing them of being connected to the incident and telling them they were being moved to another dorm. Later, Chuck Shreve, dean of student services, said NMC investigations "revealed a connection of some sort" to the graffiti incident. Wrong. A few days later, Shreve said he "shouldn't have" linked the girls to the incident or to a non-student who NMC officials said admitted writing on Jackson's door. Shreve said that although Feister and Hunter hadn't been getting along with Jackson, their dispute "did not lead to the writing of the slur." Hunter and Feister, who all along denied any involvement, said the sanctions hurt their reputations, Shreve's reversal notwithstanding. Their appeal of the order to move was turned down. The college's handling of all this was, at best, amateurish. And it hurt. Someone got their facts wrong, and two young women were suddenly accused of being not just linked to a racial incident, but responsible for it. NMC reversed itself but only after reporters asked more questions. Krystel Jackson was the first victim in this drama, and NMC managed to add two more people to the list.
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