Marginalizing The Messenger While Muting The Message: It’s The Shaw ‘U’ Way!

“Shooting the messenger” is a metaphoric phrase used to describe the act of lashing out at the (blameless) bearer of bad news.

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS WRONG WITH US? What is it about those of you who get SO ANGRY about a group of people who actually have the COURAGE to speak out against injustice that gets folk so flipping mad? Do we simply not want to be reminded of the actual problem(s)? Or do we cynically believe that there has to be a secret motive behind their movement?

Rather than listening, reflecting, questioning, analyzing, debating, and forming our own opinions, we guess it’s much easier to characterize the messenger.

There have been countless attempts to uncover who the “FRIENDS OF SHAW” actually are. “Who owns that site?” “Who’s writing the stories?” “Who ARE the culprits?” “How DARE they publicly air Shaw’s dirty laundry!”

One particular alum contacted us via Twitter and actually blamed “THE FRIENDS” for Shaw’s “issues”. She was adamant about blaming us for “causing major problems”. She didn’t blame Shaw…but blamed “us”.

Then, soon after these discussions take place, everything negative regarding Shaw University is blamed on “THE FRIENDS”. This tactic – call it a stereotype, if you will – serves no other purpose than to create a narrative for conflict and opposition.

Let the record show, that just like the Occupy Wall Street Movement, we are a nameless, faceless group who are working to find a common voice in one clear, unified demand to help better OUR university.

Once the sides have been defined and the caricatures drawn, those on the other side of the fence (administration, the BOT, etc) can sit back and watch the insults fly. The more outrageous we seem, the more outrageous the opponent can be portrayed. Soon, you have everyone so outraged by the audacity and unmitigated nerve of either stereotype that the message is lost entirely. The science of it all is actually quite amazing. With the messenger marginalized, the message magically becomes muted.

Oh yeah, what was it we were talking about? Oh yeah…those disgruntled “Shaw Folk”. DON’T YOU LET NOBODY SAY NOTHIN’ BAD ABOUT YO’ SCHOOL!

Moving right along…

Apparently, the “more mature” members of the Shaw community were absolutely outraged about the “Shaw U Chicken Fight” video that went viral yesterday. “THE FRIENDS” on the other hand were not surprised OR upset at all. Why? Because Shaw’s problems are bigger than chicken. We also know that a week from now, everyone will completely forget about that whole debacle. But the REAL ISSUES at Shaw will continue to get worse and worse.

~ It’s not about chicken or young women fighting over who gets to eat it first.

~ It’s not about the student who videotaped the fight OR the student who decided to send the video to a wildly popular website.

~ It’s not about McClaurin or the 3 temporary presidents who preceded her.

~ It’s not about “THE FRIENDS OF SHAW” or who people think “THE FRIENDS” actually are or self definitions of what “FRIENDSHIP” is.

~ It’s not about what we publish, when or why we publish these stories.

There are some serious, serious problems at Shaw University that lie within the individuals who are at the helm. If you are a student, if you work at Shaw, if you graduated from Shaw or attended Shaw for 5 minutes, you KNOW about the issues. It does not take this website or any other website to put it on blast. Let’s keep it real. And with everything that we have published – we have refrained from publishing the REAL DIRT. Be careful about where you place blame.

As long as we can neatly separate the messenger from the message, we can identify with a side and never stop to consider the real issues at Shaw. Folk are creating a battle against messengers instead of opening a dialogue on why there is no real growth at our university despite everyone growing around us.

We’re jousting against straw men instead of analyzing the long-term implications of the absence of a public relations/communications department.

We’re sitting at the table coloring caricatures instead of having an adult discussion on raising revenues and cutting expenditures to provide the level of quality education necessary for Shaw grads to remain relevant in this very crowded yet competitive collegiate marketplace.

We’re resorting to saying things like, “Just pray about it” and “The Lord is gonna take care of it. Shaw aint going nowhere” when we ALL know that faith without works is D-E-A-D.

So what if you don’t agree with the method in which we have chosen to create awareness. The first step toward recovery is admitting that there is a problem. If we can’t sit down together and admit where the problem lies, we’ll never be able to devise a solution.

Contact us by CLICKING HERE if you would like share ideas on how to fix these issues. Do it before it’s too late.

Minister Farrakhan Speaks To Shaw University

The Minister wants us to WAKE UP! But will we?

#ShawU and Fried Chicken

The above image was sent to the FRIENDS OF SHAW several weeks ago. A student was extremely upset that when he bit into his lunch, this is what he saw. We encouraged him to make a formal complaint. He told the supervisor of Thompson Hospitality, and his complaint went unaddressed. Then a complaint was sent to administration – and again, concerns went unanswered.

The GuideStar report lists one of Shaw’s largest contractors in 2004 as the Aramark Corporation who provided Food Services to Shaw at a yearly cost of $1,560,883. Today, with fewer students who offset inflationary trends, Thompson Hospitality (the current food services provider) commands over 2 million dollars per year for food services. Furthermore, outsourcing has plummeted Shaw’s personnel budget to around 30% while our infrastructure totters at the precipice.

But this isn’t what this article is about.

Today, #ShawU was the talk of the town internet. Not because of anything of any significant news about multi-million dollar grants or major development news concering the reopening of the student union- – but because of two female students who got into a fist fight on “Fried Chicken Wednesday” while waiting on line in the makeshift cafeteria. The following video was submitted to the ever popular website, WORLD STAR HIP HOP and was viewed over 135,000 times.

This video is being shared via twitter and facebook and has gone viral in a matter of seconds. Once again, THE WORLD is looking at Shaw University in a negative light.

Here are some of the comments we observed:

“so… we fight over who was in line first in the chicken line now?!?” -LuvLee Jonie

‘this is exactly how blacks end up killing each other when stuff like this escalates unnecessarily.” -johnnyboytellem

“it doesn’t make any sense that COLLEGE students are acting like this. and over some damn chicken? smh ” -SimplyComplex_87

As administration (AND ALUMNI) continues to turn a blind eye to the power of the internet, Shaw will continue to crumble.

At this point, it is important to realize that the future of Shaw University is TRULY in the hands of its alumni. Apparently, no one else cares about her future.

EDITED TO ADD: When we submitted this blog, the “Shaw U Chicken Fight” had 135,000 views. 2 hours later, the video now has over 166,000 views. Don’t think the internet is powerful? Think again. Bull$hit can travel faster than the speed of light. When will we be ready to take our school back?

4:20PM (EST) – 192,000 views

4:59PM (EST) – 200,000 views

6:28PM (EST) -215,000 views

11/9/11 -9:56AM (EST) – 293,000 views

11/9/11-8PM (EST) -331,000 views (video has been added to a popular radio station website in Greensboro, NC)

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