Editor:

As a half-Hispanic person who has seen the wonderful cultural exhibits held by MEChA on the Mall and has been equally delighted by the friendliness and diversity of Kappa Sigma, this whole situation between these two groups has deeply disturbed me. Before I write any more, I am not taking sides. It is an overblown misunderstanding.

The alleged word "sp*c," could easily have been misunderstood during a speed soccer game with "kick, Rick, stick, lick, dig, sick, dick." There is no proof of racist name calling, just one person's word against another.

Sad to say, there is more proof of the presence of prejudice in MEChA. Prejudice starts when one judges a group by the actions of one person. Protesting against Kappa Sigma is contradictory to the mission of a non-racist and unprejudiced university. Some members of the group calling the whole house "bigots" does not reflect fair judgement.

And MEChA is asking for a lot. MEChA is asking someone who alleges his innocence to apologize for a racial slur. If he is innocent, why should he apologize and admit racism? (and make his group look bad because this incident was unnecessarily blown over t o be a group conflict.)

MEChA (mi hermanos y hermanas), please, remember, this is an "alleged" incident that could very easily be a huge misunderstanding. Don't make mountains out of molehills, especially ones that may not exist. It shows some UA students (who judge groups and e ven ethnicities by individuals) that you have a chip on your shoulder. It would be a different incident if a bunch of Kappa Sigs yelled derogatory names, but that is not the case. At this point, you are not justified by calling whole groups of people "ra cists."

There needs to be a mediation. Accused Kappa Sig member, if guilty, apologize, if not, apologize for this misunderstanding.

MEChA, if he says he is guilty and apologizes, take his apology and show him how to act better. But if he maintains his innocence, there is nothing you can really do about it but use it as an opportunity to (if you take his plea of innocence) show you're strength and maturity and peacefully take his word.

If you still believe he is guilty, be bigger than the person you believe to be a bigot by peacefully taking your negative opinions of the house and focus it were it belongs, to the person you are convinced is guilty of being a bigot.

Kappa Sigma, the group, does not deserve the negative connotations you are placing on the house. It is probably the most diverse and non-prejudiced house on campus. Please don't push away minorities who are thinking of joining this group. As minorities, w e need more unprejudiced houses and protesting such an unclear incident against a group with a reputation of being unprejudiced, does not help matters and wastes a lot of creative energy I have seen from MEChA in the past. Don't contradict yourself by bei ng prejudiced against a whole house. Be bigger than that.

We don't need two admirable groups on campus to have tension because of some extremely vague incident. Let the two who had the altercation deal with it and keep it at that.

Maria Clarita Crespo
philosophy, sociology sophomore