NCCU students have to use hotel's back door

[Kelvin Mace]

Herald Sun (Durham, NC)

http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-385462.html

The Durham Hilton recently issued written rules barring students at N.C. Central University, a historically black school, from using the hotel's front door, an act NCCU's chancellor called "unconscionable."

Lee Jefferson, an NCCU senior living at the Hilton while several university dorms are being renovated, said he was offended by the seven-page contract he was asked to sign.

So, NCCU is paying for the privledge of being discriminated against.

"It doesn't help that NCCU is a black school and it's in the South. It's reminiscent of segregation and Jim Crow."

Wait, wait, it gets better.

Hilton General Manager Dent Davis initially told The Herald-Sun on Tuesday that there was no contract for NCCU students.

"It's not that they're signing an agreement. They are giving us their name, their vehicle information, things like that," Davis said. "It's an information package for them with general information."

In a later interview, when informed that The Herald-Sun had obtained a copy of the document, Davis acknowledged that it was titled a contract. Davis said he prefers to refer to it as an agreement.

Okay, this wouldn't be a big deal if the manager just came out and said, "Jesus, did we write that?!! What were we thinking? I am so sorry, I'll delete that language right away. I'll also issue a written apology to the students."

Instead, they play these word games, which tell me that the motivation was racism.

Here's another example:

Davis also said the rule against using the front entrance is a suggestion and not a requirement, and that some students are not following it.

The written contract, however, says students are "prohibited" from using the front entrance.

David Allen
www.thoughtcrimes.org
Distrusting the Government Since 1984

[Spazito]

1. Geez!

This isn't even subtle discrimination which is disgusting in itself, this is out and out racism, imo!

[classics]

2. I dont see any discrimination here.

I see a business that doesnt want its lobby filled with hundreds of loud obnoxious teenagers all day and night.

To suggest this is racism somehow is just race baiting bullshit. Its an arrangement they agreed on, how is that racism?

[Spazito]

3. If you note...

other hotels with students from the same school have put not such restrictions on their guests. Why not? Shouldn't the same rationale apply if what you say is true?

[classics]

4. Not at all.

What makes you think that because other hotels let gangs of teenagers hang out in the lobby, that this particular one should?

The point you are missing is that they agreed to this contract. They wanted this arrangement. To complain about a consensual arrangement being racist is patently absurd.

If they do not like the contract, they should not have agreed to it.

[Spazito]

5. I will agree to disagree with you on this..

and wait to see if there will be any further action on this, possibly through the courts.

The article is lacking some specifics that would be helpful, ie, is this a long-standing policy or one that has just been put into place for this specific case, etc.

[sangh0]

6. If the hotel is doing nothing wrong

then why did they lie about the "agreement" (really a contract) and it's "suggestions" (really "prohibitions")???

If they were only concerned about "gangs" (hmmmm) of "teenagers" (tennage college students?) then why didn't they say so, or are you their paid mouthpiece?

[tlcandie]

8. Racial or not ...

If they didn't want the 'MESS' or hassle then they should not be taking the money.

I'm sure they have LARGE crowds in the lobby from time to time when there are conventions, etc., so what is the difference?

If they didn't want 'THE STUDENTS' in the lobby then don't allow them to stay at YOUR hotel; otherwise, they are paying customers and they have all rights and priviledges as anyone else.

Why is this person 'whining' and making 'exceptions' regarding paying customers whom THEY AGREED to let into the hotel in the first place?

:shrug:

[qanda]

10. Just one question...

Have you ever been discriminated against? I'm not asking to be smart, I'm just wondering.

[classics]

14. Yes.

And if my school signed a contract with a hotel saying I had to use the back door, I sure as hell wouldnt be screaming that the hotel is racist.

If anyone is to blame for the arrangement its the school who signed the contract.

But thats not as newsy.

[salin]

16. it sounds like it wasn't a contract with the school which had this

language - it was what they gave to the individual students. Hence the manager stating it was just forms to get basic information (name, car registration, etc.)

Could be the school had NO IDEA that this language was being put to individual students to agree to.

So my school is late in getting dorms prepared for students, and works out arrangements with local hotels.

I have to have housing to go to school, and since my dorm - that I have agreed to the terms to - isn't ready, I have to go to a prearranged hotel.

Suddenly the hotel I am assigned to has a "contract" that puts stipulations that only applies to students (predominantly African American) - and no other hotel has this requirement - that disallows us from using the main entrance to the hotel.

I have no choice. My dorm isn't ready. I have to live there so I can go to class.

That is coersion.

[sangh0]

17. Then why did the hotel's GM lie about it?

If the hotel did nothing wrong, then why did it's GM lie about the "agreement", which was really a contract, and it's "suggestions", which were really "prohibitions"?

[damnraddem]

11. Sure an agreement they agreed on.

While their dorm is being worked on, they're free to sleep in the park, until they get arrested, if they don't like the wording of the contract they're being asked to sign in order to stay in the alternate accommodations arranged for them.

So, how could it be racism? After all, how can it be class war if the rich and poor alike are prohibited from sleeping under bridges?

[HFishbine]

12. It's not racism..

it's tradition. We have a long history in North Carolina of having people of color use the back entrance. The hotel is obviously just standing up for tradition and those who say otherwise are being insensitive to heritage.

[salin]

15. If that was the case - then why sell the rooms to the students?

Either they want the business (sure fire way to fill rooms) or not.

Even if you were correct - the article and the way the manager side stepped the issue - suggests there is more to this story.

[rocktivity]

19. What's the difference between a lobby full of loud obnoxious students

a lobby full of loud obnoxious conventioneers?


rocknation

[SaveABug]

7. It's highly possible that the original intent was not racist

but the results are. If the hotel doesn't want to treat students the same as other guests, they should not have allowed them to stay there. Treating one group differently than another group is what constitutes discrimination.

[Kelvin Mace]

9. This was my point in my comments

If there was NO racist intent, they would have fallen all over themselves apologizing and changing the language. Instead, they denied responsibility for the remark, lied about it, then played word games.

Hilton General Manager Dent Davis initially told The Herald-Sun on Tuesday that there was no contract for NCCU students.

"It's not that they're signing an agreement. They are giving us their name, their vehicle information, things like that," Davis said. "It's an information package for them with general information."

First reaction: Deny & Lie

In a later interview, when informed that The Herald-Sun had obtained a copy of the document, Davis acknowledged that it was titled a contract. Davis said he prefers to refer to it as an agreement.

Here he is busted and yet still refuses to come clean. Then he lies again.

Davis also said the rule against using the front entrance is a suggestion and not a requirement, and that some students are not following it.

The written contract, however, says students are "prohibited" from using the front entrance.

I would fire his ass for this.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[montana_hazeleyes]

18. Smells racist to me,

Back of the bus- can't drink out of the faucet- CAN'T GO THOUGH FRONT DOOR.
Black people have been putting up with this crap forever. It has been changed alot for awhile, but I truly feel with the current right -wing sentiment raving in this country right now that racists feel they have the go- ahead to be blatant about it again.

[rocktivity]

20. Hopefully, the college isn't lying by calling it "unconscionable"

to cover their own backsides. If the hotel didn't tell the college they were planning to do this, they're in breach of contract. The hotel should have told the school what they planned. And because the manager lied, he's made his employer liable and should be fired. These students ARE being discriminated against--not by race, but because they're paying for their rooms like the other guests.


rocknation