Loaded

Students walk to class through Northgate on Monday. Recent assaults have raised concerns about the safety of international students.

A sign posted in front of The Library bar on Northgate says it can refuse service to anyone. People can be turned away based on the discretion of The Library's employees.

Students report incidents of discrimination

By Matthew Watkins

Atul Jain, a senior biology major and Indian-American student, said he has experienced racism multiple times at the Northgate bar The Library.

Jain said he and a group of friends were once charged $15 to enter The Library, and that later his white friends were charged only $3 to get inside.

Robel Tekleab, an Ethiopian student, said his friend was turned away from The Library one evening because he was wearing shorts, which violated the bar's dress code; however, when he entered the bar, Tekleab said he saw numerous white men wearing shorts.

"We were infuriated," he said. "It is clearly obvious that there is a selective enforcement of the rules (based on race)."

Costa Dallis, owner of The Library, said the allegations were the result of people's misunderstanding of the bar's policy.

According to The Library's rules and regulations, which are posted on its window outside the bar, cover charge is determined by the customer's age, sex, the time of night the customer is trying to enter and if there is a special event.

The sign also displays the bar's dress code, which bans sports attire, baggy clothes, backwards baseball caps and do-rags.

T-shirts are discouraged and are approved on a case-by-case basis. Plain shirts are not allowed regardless of color, the sign reads.

Dallis said he has photos of minorities inside his bar, which he offered to show to anyone who believes The Library is racist.

"I don't know how many times I can say it until I am blue in the face: We do not discriminate under any circumstance," he said. "I think people are being really quick to cry wolf. Every night, there are people of every ethnicity who do get in and don't get in. People are just jumping on the bandwagon with their accusations right now."

Dean Bresciani, vice president for student affairs at A&M, said he has received numerous complaints from students about the bar's practices.

"We are getting so many reports and they are so similar that it is hard to believe that there isn't a problem that needs to be focused on," he said.

Bresciani said although he has received a large number of complaints, the University is limited in what it can do about the situation.

"What we are trying to do is focus on individual students taking responsibility," he said. "Student leaders are working on options that can be pursued. The University's role is in helping them process that and think through it."

Tekleab said he and his fellow African-American students are working to change The Library's policies. Tekleab said he hopes the bar will change its methods voluntarily but that he will consider legal or community action, including a boycott, if such changes do not occur.

"We want to be respectful and have no intention of hurting anyone's pocket," he said. "But if that's what it takes, we will try whatever we can. By any means necessary."

Patrick Lukingbeal, student advocate for diversity for the Student Government Association executive council, said a student task force has been addressing the issue.

"It is undeniable that there have been a lot of students that have a lot of concerns," he said.

The task force will be meeting with the Northgate District Association to discuss the issue in late October, Lukingbeal said.

Leaders work to increase Northgate safety

By Emily Baker

It has been five months since Ravi Mallipeddi, a doctoral student in the Department of Communication, reported being hit on the back with a baseball bat and insulted on Northgate, and student leaders on campus are still working at making the area safer for students.

There have been three reported hate crimes involving international students in the Northgate area since Mallipeddi's report to the police in June.

Patrick Lukingbeal, a senior environmental studies major and the student advocate for diversity, said a task force, created in response to the report of Mallipeddi's attack, developed a detailed map of the Northgate area in order to present a proposal of change to Bryan and College Station city councils.

"The first thing we are discussing is the lighting on Northgate," Lukingbeal said. "The lighting is either broken or lacking ... right now it is (also) lacking emergency phones."

Srikanth Sastry, president of the International Graduate Students Association, said the violence has caused growing concerns for international students who are frequently in the Northgate area.

"People perceive the Northgate area as not very safe, but many international students can't help but go through the area every day," he said. "Northgate is situated between where they live in the international apartments and where they work on campus."

Sastry, a computer science graduate student and part of the task force, said many graduate students spend a lot of time on campus and do not have cars; consequently, they have to walk through Northgate late at night where the area is dimly lit or does not have sidewalks.

There are more than 3,000 international students studying at A&M, Sastry said, and students must accept international students as a part of the Aggie community.

"People who have a problem with differences need to get over them," he said. "There was a lot of noise around Ravi Mallipeddi's incident. A lot of people commented on the problems and wanted to make a change. Then when Saurin Shah was attacked, people began to realize that nothing had actually happened after Ravi's incident."

While international students appreciate the recommended changes, many minorities do not go to Northgate because they feel unsafe and unwelcome, Sastry said.

"If you're a minority, you don't go to Northgate," he said. "That's the perception minorities have."

Will Hailey, a junior history major and speaker of the Student Senate, said international students are frequently overlooked.

"It's about time people in student government stick up for international students, who are traditionally underrepresented," Hailey said.

Hailey said concerned students should attend Senate committee meetings and provide input on the Aggie Family Safety Bill, an effort by Student Senate to address the Northgate safety issue.

"The legislation is in a phase where any student can talk about it," Hailey said.

Meetings will be held Oct. 16 at 3:30 p.m. in Koldus 146 and at 5 p.m. in the Student Government Association office in Koldus.

Some bars are not accepting non-Texas IDs

By Jenna Janik

When Susan White went out with a group of 10 friends, she thought it was going to be just another Friday night at Northgate.

"We went up to the bar, and they said three of us couldn't get in," said White, a senior construction science major. "We had three international students with us who had passports, and they said it wasn't an acceptable form of ID. They felt they were being discriminated against simply because they were international students."

White said the group tried to go to Mad Hatter's and Dry Bean Saloon and that both bars turned down their group due to the international students' passports. The students were in their mid-20s. White said she had a similar problem a few weeks later.

"My friend in the military came into College Station on a two-week break from Iraq," she said. "We tried to get into bars on Northgate, but they wouldn't accept his military ID. I couldn't believe it. Here's a guy on a break from serving our country, and they are worried about him having a fake military ID?"

Mad Hatter's and Dry Bean Saloon chose not to comment on the incident.

Barry Ivins, owner of The Corner Bar and Grill said many bars were reluctant to accept out-of-state identification cards because many of them were forged. The Corner was not involved in any of the aforementioned incidents.

"We get hit with so many fake IDs, it's ridiculous," Ivins said. "The law does not protect us from serving out-of-state IDs. The only identification forms we can legally serve on are a Texas state identification card and passport."

Duc Phung, French international business major, said he has never had a problem getting into bars with his passport.

"I go to Northgate every week, and I've never had a problem," Phung said. "However, my friend from Tennessee, who is over 21, has not been allowed to drink with his Tennessee identification card."

Randy Field, a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agent, said bars and other alcohol retailers have sole discretion over whom they let in to their bars.

"If a person has presented an apparently valid Texas identification that ends up being fake, there's an exemption for the retailer," Field said. "For an out-of-state ID, there's no exemption for the retailer."

Field recommends out-of-state students go to the department of public safety (DPS) and get a Texas identification card. Out-of-state students can get the card without giving up their driver's license from their home state. Temporary residents from other places can also get a temporary Texas identification card at the DPS, he said.