Marquette University honors ’70s cop-killer Assata Shakur with mural

[ChicosBailBonds]

One question that needs to be asked is how Marquette PR didn't know about this despite the fact that a seemingly official Facebook account mentioned it during the entire Spring semester.

So either, they are covering their azz right now, or they aren't monitoring these accounts regularly...either one of these is a big problem.

Sultan, if I had to guess the Facebook posts aren't always put through by the PR department.  I've seen that at Fortune 500 companies where it isn't, and it bites them in the arse.  It gets worse as you go down the line with Instagram, Twitter, etc.  Houston Rockets just fired their social media guy because these kids, and usually they are kids, are so into instant publish without thinking through what they are doing.

I've had to deal with it on my current team where I have nothing but 20 somethings.  Smart people, but on our Social pages they want to post certain things and I've had to veto about 15% of it because they aren't thinking it all the way through.  What they view as a positive role model, many others don't.  What they view as "just", many others don't. So on and so forth. I have no doubt this whole thing was meant to harmless, but that's the world we live in. 

[GGGG]

Sultan, if I had to guess the Facebook posts aren't always put through by the PR department.  I've seen that at Fortune 500 companies where it isn't, and it bites them in the arse.  It gets worse as you go down the line with Instagram, Twitter, etc.  Houston Rockets just fired their social media guy because these kids, and usually they are kids, are so into instant publish without thinking through what they are doing.

I've had to deal with it on my current team where I have nothing but 20 somethings.  Smart people, but on our Social pages they want to post certain things and I've had to veto about 15% of it because they aren't thinking it all the way through.  What they view as a positive role model, many others don't.  What they view as "just", many others don't. So on and so forth. I have no doubt this whole thing was meant to harmless, but that's the world we live in. 

At the university where I work, we monitor all of the official twitter and facebook accounts.  So things like what the Rockets twitter-guy did can be caught right away.

The issue I have here is that while this mural is in an out of the way location, it's existence and the quote were mentioned on Facebook multiple times by the "Gender and Sexuality Resource Center" back in March.  Someone in PR dropped the ball here.

[keefe]

a bunch of radicalized left-wing homosexuals

WTFO?

[warriorchick]

At the university where I work, we monitor all of the official twitter and facebook accounts.  So things like what the Rockets twitter-guy did can be caught right away.

The issue I have here is that while this mural is in an out of the way location, it's existence and the quote were mentioned on Facebook multiple times by the "Gender and Sexuality Resource Center" back in March.  Someone in PR dropped the ball here.

There are literally hundreds of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts that are attached to Marquette in some way. The most important ones run through the Office of Management and Communication and are officially signed off on, but I believe the rest are the responsibility of the office or organization it represents.  I am pretty sure that Tim Cigelske, the Director of Social Media, is "friends" (or whatever) with most of these accounts, but expecting him to react to this post would mean assuming he read all of the words on the mural and knew who Assata Shakur was.

The Gender and Sexuality Resource Center is only followed by 342 people currently, and who knows how many of those signed up in the past 24 hours?  It wasn't exactly @MarquetteMBB in terms of popularity, so I am not surprised it took this long for someone to discover it.

[keefe]

You know what fuc king sickens me. The fact that people have been commenting on a photo of my and my friends that marquette posted on Facebook to make a political point by bringing up this issue. Fu ck those people for fuc king putting a bad taste in my mouth on my graduation day.

Hmmm....this makes no fuc king sense whatsoever. But whatever those people did it certainly fuc king pissed you off

[ChicosBailBonds]

You know what fuc king sickens me. The fact that people have been commenting on a photo of my and my friends that marquette posted on Facebook to make a political point by bringing up this issue. Fu ck those people for fuc king putting a bad taste in my mouth on my graduation day.

???

Are you in that facebook photo?  Not sure I understand.

[Dr. Blackheart]

???

Are you in that facebook photo?  Not sure I understand.

https://www.facebook.com/MarquetteU

[ChicosBailBonds]

https://www.facebook.com/MarquetteU

Thanks

[keefe]

Actually, on the day you graduate, it is.

Actually, it isn't.

On graduation day when I did the raise the right hand thing and was commissioned a 2LT by my Maj Gen father he shook my hand and said, "I expect you to take care of your men." No, "atta boy!"  No, "I'm proud of you!" Just, "I expect you to take care of your men."

Years later I asked him about that and he said graduation day was significant only because it was recognition that I was ready for greater responsibility. I had USAF Undergraduate Pilot Training starting in a few weeks - a program with a 70% washout rate. I hadn't accomplished anything that meant something tangible for the greater good.

As I reflect back I know he was right. What he was telling me was build on this. 

 

 

[ChicosBailBonds]

As I reflect back I know he was right. What he was telling me was build on this. 
 

Smart man

[Tugg Speedman]

OK perfect.  This is exactly how it should have been handled.

I guess I should keep my eyes peeled for the radicalized homosexuals that Heisentroll said were going to chain themselves to the door.

Sultan, you have yet to get anything right in this post.

* you said this would not be a national story, that took about 20 minutes to get wrong
* you said the university should handled this quietly, that took about 2 hours to get wrong.

Are you still sticking to your claim it was unknowing children that put up this mural merely because they thought the artwork was pretty?

And, given you uber left-wing political views, along with you collecting a university paycheck, why am I not surprised you mock me about this.  You think the radical homosexuals that put up these types of murals are typical average boring students.  Because from your point of view, they are.

[keefe]

the radical homosexuals

Beware!

[tower912]

Sultan, you have yet to get anything right in this post.

* you said this would not be a national story, that took about 20 minutes to get wrong
* you said the university should handled this quietly, that took about 2 hours to get wrong.

Are you still sticking to your claim it was unknowing children that put up this mural merely because they thought the artwork was pretty?

And, given you uber left-wing political views, along with you collecting a university paycheck, why am I not surprised you mock me about this.  You think the radical homosexuals that put up these types of murals are typical average boring students.  Because from your point of view, they are.

  Stop acting like young people being radical, saying/doing something offensive to their elders is something new, something to be feared, or widespread.    That group's facebook page had 342 followers.    Which means that they were hardly mainstream.      And now its over.   

[GGGG]

Sultan, you have yet to get anything right in this post.

* you said this would not be a national story, that took about 20 minutes to get wrong
* you said the university should handled this quietly, that took about 2 hours to get wrong.

Are you still sticking to your claim it was unknowing children that put up this mural merely because they thought the artwork was pretty?

And, given you uber left-wing political views, along with you collecting a university paycheck, why am I not surprised you mock me about this.  You think the radical homosexuals that put up these types of murals are typical average boring students.  Because from your point of view, they are.

Yes I was wrong that it would not be a big deal.

However it was handled quietly.  Remember that was in comparison to your idea that "Lovell can and should make a speech decrying it, embarrassing those that thought this was a good idea..."  Sending out a short press release and painting it over is quiet in comparison.

And I am going to keep my eyes peeled to the news for your prediction that "GSRC members chain themselves to AMU door 425 to prevent it from being painted over."  (Don't count on it.)

And of course there was your suggestion that they did this in response to cancelling the Femsex Seminar.  Which was completely not true.

So I think all in all, I got a lot more right than you did.  Per usual.

[rocket surgeon]

nice-university of moscow by the lake and uc-berkely are getting jealous-when can i get my t-shirt?  i'd put that in teal, but i don't think it's that far fetched.  marquette is just trying to do a little catching up.  next, re-naming the mall after fill-in-the-blank socialist radical.  maybe a vote like they did for our school nickname.  this isn't going to end well

[Warriorfish]

There are still so many unanswered questions with this.  Law enforcement is rightly PO'd and wants answers.

Who knew this despicable mural was there and approved it?

Hilarious that it was Prof McAdams who broke the story and brought this to light.

[mu03eng]

nice-university of moscow by the lake and uc-berkely are getting jealous-when can i get my t-shirt?  i'd put that in teal, but i don't think it's that far fetched.  marquette is just trying to do a little catching up.  next, re-naming the mall after fill-in-the-blank socialist radical.  maybe a vote like they did for our school nickname.  this isn't going to end well

Oh come on, this was an isolated incident.  Yes, it was stupid and looks terrible, but I'm guessing this got approved at a very low level by someone that on staff or faculty that wasn't even born when the killing occurred.  This was a very small group of provocateur students that slipped on by the administration.

Maybe it shows my ignorance, but I had never heard of Shakur prior to this story breaking.  Granted, I'd like to think I would have googled her if asked to approve the mural....but this happened in 1973, I could see where anyone 40 or less could have missed who she was if just signing off on a bunch of stuff.  I wouldn't be surprised to find out the students that requested the mural just googled "female empowerment quotes" and got those two quotes without any research and decided to put it on the wall.

It's bad form and a horrible message but lets not going lighting our hair on fire.

[jsglow]

I know that there's an investigation going on now to determine who knew and approved the mural.

[Benny B]

JSOnline reporting GSRC facebook post on March 24th thanking the AKA's initiation of the mural.

Of course, it had to be a frat that's responsible for this.  Probably some sort of prank.

[mu03eng]

You know what fuc king sickens me. The fact that people have been commenting on a photo of my and my friends that marquette posted on Facebook to make a political point by bringing up this issue. Fu ck those people for fuc king putting a bad taste in my mouth on my graduation day.

I'll step in as Chitown's anger translator:

"People on Facebook know I have an inability to control my temper so they decided to troll me by making references to the Shakur mural on photos showing me and my friends in Marquette gear.  Being unable to isolate my anger it was put me in a foul mood for my graduation weekend.  Thanks trolls who I let troll me"

[GGGG]

JSOnline reporting GSRC facebook post on March 24th thanking the AKA's initiation of the mural.

Of course, it had to be a frat that's responsible for this.  Probably some sort of prank.

Alpha Kappa Alpha is a sorority with a predominantly African American membership.

[Benny B]

Alpha Kappa Alpha is a sorority with a predominantly African American membership.

That's sexist and racist.  A black woman has every bit the right to prank that a white man does.

[Warrior2008]

Just saw this and its absolutely disgusting. I'm sure this campus organization could've found any of a number of different people to paint a mural of before they came to this cop killer.  College campuses are designed for the free flow of ideas, regardless of their origin on the political, religious, or socioeconomic scale, but painting an image a person who callously executed a public servant goes well beyond the acceptable norms.

I love my alma mater, but this is indefensible and it seems judging by Marquette's statement they agree. Someone should be fired and some form of oversight should be put in place, this kinda crap just cannot happen.  For whatever reason, Marquette is incredibly proficient at shooting themselves in the foot with controversy.

[brandx]

That's sexist and racist.  A black woman has every bit the right to prank that a white man does.

 

[Badgerhater]

I get that college kids sometimes take a weird ideological detour during the college years, but it is the responsibility of paid faculty/administrators/staff to vet things like this.

Supposedly, adult professionals who have some level of critical and analytical thinking are working with these student groups.  They don't need to censor anything, but probably would head off a lot of PR disasters like this one by asking students what is the complete background behind this person and within that background what are issues that will detract from the message you are trying to get out?  Do those issues overshadow what you are trying to say?

And if staff can't see why Skakur's actions don't bother most people then that is a larger problem that needs to be dealt with by higher administration.