Diary of a mad black Hopkins student
Reporting about the SGA, not a record of it: The Johns Hopkins News-Letter published this and the SGA did not write it, file it, or approve it. The archive holds it because the article itself uses the phrase “student council”.
Summary
- This Johns Hopkins News-Letter article covers Brenton Pennicooke’s account of racism and cultural insensitivity at Hopkins and his concerns about a student council free-speech bill.
- The News-Letter reported that Pennicooke wrote he had stayed silent for more than three years while dealing with racial tension and the stigma of being a minority student at a top-tier school.
- The paper reported that he connected his concerns to a student council bill meant to establish clearer policies protecting “all ideas.”
- The article says Pennicooke recalled finding a racial slur written in permanent marker near the McCoy elevators and asking a security guard to have it cleaned.
- The reporter writes that Pennicooke described an acquaintance saying he looked likely to rob them and another person telling him that “real black people” did not attend Hopkins.
- The article adds that Pennicooke questioned whether the bill would lead to open debate or to more racial tension, ignorance and exclusivity.