Just when you thought you were done hearing about racism at universities, turns out ignorance is striking a little closer to College Park this time.

UC San Diego may be ablaze with controversy over students hanging nooses in the library and fraternities hosting “Compton Cookouts,” but Towson University fired a professor after he made a racist comment during class.

Professional artist Allen Zaruba, who is an adjunct professor at the university, compared his rights and situation as an adjunct to “a n***** on the corporate plantation.”

A student reported him after the class and Zaruba was fired over the phone. Though Zaruba apologized, he said his recent unemployment only proves his point that adjuncts get few employment rights.

“I just finished talking to a lawyer,” Zaruba said. “I have no ability to appeal anything.”

Some students in his class, however, told Towson’s student newspaper, The Towerlight, that Zaruba, was honest and blunt in his language, something they did not have a problem with.

“He used the word to illustrate a point. He wasn’t trying to offend anyone. And obviously … we were understanding,” Maria Bernier, a sophomore studio art major said “And going into our class, you kind of should expect some level of shockingness and, you know, in your face [content].”

The kicker? Zaruba says his stepfather was black, a man he “loved dearly”.

“I am not a racist,” he said. “I never have been. I’ve been raised overseas and in other cultures. It just absolutely kills me.”

The way members of the Atheist Agenda at the University of Texas-San Antonio see it, UTSA students have more use for Penthouse or Playboy than the Quran or the Bible.

The student atheists kicked off their highly publicized annual “Smut for Smut” campaign on Monday, manning a booth in the middle of a crowded campus plaza where passersby can trade in religious texts for pornography.

In past years, the controversial publicity stunt has garnered new members and a ton of press, including a chance for an Atheist Agenda president to debate Tucker Carlson on MSNBC in 2005.

This year, hundreds of protesters circled the booth, singing hymns and holding signs that read “Jesus Saves” and “Jesus Loves the Atheist Agenda”. The student atheists held their ground on the stairs of a campus building, proclaiming their belief that texts like the Bible promote misogyny, intolerance, violence and genocide. Meanwhile, agnostics sat in the middle, attempting to keep the peace between the two sides.

And now for a breakdown of the factions. From the San Antonio Express-News:

“It’s a First Amendment right,” said Bradley Lewis, 18-year-old freshman from Pearland who said he plans to join the Atheist Agenda. “If religious groups can put out missionaries and go knock on my door and wake me up at 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning, I can put a table outside of the college.”

Robin Lorkovic, an 18-year-old freshman from Houston, disagreed. Lorkovic stood near the “Smut for Smut” table holding a cardboard sign that said “God Loves You! Keep your Bible and learn from it!”

“I don’t really feel like that is appropriate at all,” Lorkovic said. “I am a Christian, I believe in God’s love and I am here to stand my ground and stand up for what I believe in.”

Let’s hear from the agnostics, quoted in the UTSA student newspaper The Paisano:

“Well, we don’t really believe in either side. We believe both foster hate,” UTSA junior Victoria Arzu said. “They know they’re doing it for show, and they know that either party could be mistaken in their beliefs. We choose an agnostic position because it’s the smartest thing to do.”

Later in the afternoon, Atheist Agenda president Carlos Morales debated one of the Christian protesters in a civil fashion before the crowd. And that’s really what the event is all about, those involved say:

“This is ultimately why this is going on,” Lewis said. “It’s an ice breaker to get people talking about these things.”

A student who hung a noose in a library at UC apologized in a letter in the student newspaper this morning. The (minority) student said that she and friends had been playing around with a rope, made it into a noose, then accidentally left it in the library.
The incident flaired concern about racial relations and sparked protests of prejudice across the campus. Students held a protest outside the Chancellor’s office friday, calling for the university to be shut down and respond to a list of demands from the Black Student Union.

Tensions had already been running high at the California university after a fraternity held an off-campus “ghetto-themed” party weeks before.
Though the letter was anonymous, the student has been suspended and is under investigation by campus officials.

Quick Hits:
The Fort Totten Metro site is inspected for wildlfe after employees were caught feeding raccoons.

A new report finds Maryland, Virginia and D.C. lagging behind other states in preparing students for college.

And, hey, apparently tickets for the Maryland-Duke basketball game tonight are the hottest in years. One law student in a Baltimore Sun article, could not afford tickets, and put out an ad on Craigslist offering free legal services in exchange for the coveted tickets.

If Virginia Tech finds out that any of its students have been drinking underage, that student’s parents will now be the first to know.

Under a new policy, the school will notify parents in writing even over their student’s most minor alcohol violations, the Associated Press reports.

Virginia Tech officials told the AP that their new system gives parents more warning before their student is suspended for repeat alcohol offenses, and helps parents “in setting boundaries” for their kids.

“We’re grateful for the positive involvement of parents,” the university’s vice president for student affairs told the AP.

Students, meanwhile, said they’d be more grateful if their parents and their university would mind their own business.

“Now that we’re all in college, we’re all adults. It’s kind of your responsibility to take care of yourself. If you want to make your parents aware you’re about to be kicked out of school, then it’s on you,” a VT junior told the AP.

Students at this university who share that philosophy need not fear — just yet, anyway. While UMD hasn’t threatened to contact parents over a single beer, the AP story describes Virginia Tech as “part of a small but growing number” of strict schools.