An old man used the N-word.
He apologized, claiming that he never used the word before. He's not sure how it slipped out. He thinks he picked up the word from TV or rap music.
Yes, an 80-year-old man fell victim to rappers' free use of the N-word. I guess his frequent exposure to all that rap finally caught up with him.
The real problem is the old man is, make that "was," chairman of the Roger Williams University board.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The longtime chairman of the Roger Williams University board admitted Monday that he had used the N-word during a board meeting, saying it "kind of slipped out."
"I apologized for that," Ralph Papitto said in an interview on WPRO-AM. "What else can I do? Kill myself?"
Papitto, 80, who stepped down this month after nearly 40 years on the board, admitted he used the racial slur at a May meeting of the school's board of trustees. He had been discussing the difficulty of finding blacks and other minority members to serve on the 16-member board, which at the time included 14 white men and two women.
...Papitto has given the school at least $7 million, and his name is on the law school, the only one in Rhode Island.
He said he had never used the term before.
"The first time I heard it was on television and then rap music or something," Papitto told WPRO.
...Leaders of three student groups at the law school said they want Papitto's name removed from the Ralph R. Papitto School of Law.
"Several people e-mailed me that it will be a disgrace to have the Papitto name on their resumes and their diplomas," said student leader Matt Jerzyk in an e-mailed statement.
Roberts also has called for Papitto's name to be removed from the law school.
Logan plans to present the board with a petition from law students demanding that the school's name be changed, said university spokeswoman Judi Johnson.
When I first came across this story, I thought here's another case of someone who's caught in a supposed slip. Miraculously, he never used that word in all of his eighty years.
It's just a hunch, but I doubt that's the case.
The university's wealthy benefactor Papitto's resignation from the board wasn't enough for some offended by his language. What I found interesting about the matter was the demand that his name be stripped from the law school.
If saying something offensive became the standard, think of how many buildings, schools, roads, cities, and national monuments would have to be renamed.
Robert Byrd, ex-Klansman, has his name plastered all over West Virginia.
Our founding fathers actually had slaves. Should we take George Washington off the $1 bill?
Should Washington and Jefferson be sandblasted off of Mt. Rushmore?
I'm not defending Papitto's use of the N-word in any way, but I think removing his name from the law school gets a little complicated.
It would be almost impossible to apply that principle across the board.
Will the students claiming that "it will be a disgrace to have the Papitto name on their resumes and their diplomas" consider it a disgrace to be paid in U.S. dollars adorned with the names and images of all those other evil white men?
I think some of Papitto's critics need to get a grip, a sense of proportion.
Papitto's resignation from the board was appropriate. Statements from the university condemning his use of the N-word in a meeting are also fair; but punishing him through intense public humiliation, petitions, and a movement to strip his name from the law school is taking it too far.
Students and faculty certainly have benefited from Papitto's $7 million in gifts to the university.
Do they now feel disgraced by Papitto's generosity?
Are they prepared to give Papitto a refund?
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