Cornell University Student of Mexican Descent
has been Re-victimized

Cornell Review Adds Insult to Injury

by
Ernesto Cienfuegos
La Voz de Aztlan

Los Angeles, Alta California - 2/5/2002 - (ACN) The first year female student of Mexican descent at Cornell University who was chased by 7 bat wielding white thugs on campus on January 26, 2002 has been victimized once again. This time it is not by white thugs with bats but by the "pen" of Joseph J. Sabia who writes for the ultra-conservative right wing publication called the Cornell Review. In short, he is calling the young lady from Chicago a "liar" by calling into question her report to campus authorities. This is unconscionable and reflects the racist environment that exists at the "ivy league" university in central New York state. We are certain that if the incident had happened to a white girl and the thugs were Blacks, that there would now be ten to twenty Blacks youths in jail.

Mr. Sabia is supporting his allegations that the report made by the victim is not credible by attempting to discredit the messenger, La Voz de Aztlan. He alleges that the student's report is not credible because it was first reported in La Voz de Aztlan which he calls "a vile and militant publication out of Los Angeles". He writes, "The alleged baseball bat attack on a Cornellian student of Mexican descent is becoming less credible with each day that passes". Sabia, in addition, questions why the victim of the attack waited over 48 hours to report the incident to the local authorities and why there are no witnesses to the attack. Lastly, he is questioning why the male student companion of the victim has not been identified.

La Voz de Aztlan has interviewed the victim extensively through e-mail communications and we find no reason to doubt her statements in any way. She is a very sincere young lady with a lot of courage and spirit. Our entire staff and community know that this sort of incidents happen often and will continue to happen until we put a stop to them once and for all. The "charged racial environment" at Cornell is a perfect breeding ground for these types of incidents to occur. Immediate action is required by the Cornell administration to assure the safety of our students on campus. We are aware that the same kind of incident occurred to an Asian student some time ago and we have a significant number of reports from other students of color to convince us that these types of incidents at Cornell are common occurrences.

The young Mexican-American student is going to need a lot of help in order to overcome the racist forces that are organizing around her. The Cornell Review is now using its publication in a "call for action" to destroy the freshman's credibility by asking for "witnesses" to come forward. They have also published a long list of student members of the Cornell College Republicans who are yelling for an "inquisition" of the young student victim of Mexican descent.