Larry Gordon and Rick Rojas
Los Angeles Times (MCT)

UCLA announced Friday that it would not dis­ci­pline or fur­ther inves­ti­gate the stu­dent who released a con­tro­ver­sial online video in which she com­plained about Asian stu­dents’ behav­ior and mim­ic­ked an Asian language.

But later in the day, the stu­dent, Alexandra Wallace, announced that she was with­draw­ing from the University of California, Los Angeles because of death threats and because she had been “ostra­cized from an entire com­mu­nity.” In a state­ment released to the Daily Bruin, UCLA’s stu­dent news­pa­per, she apol­o­gized for offend­ing Asians and called the video a mistake.

Wallace’s three-minute video had trig­gered a national dis­cus­sion about racial stereo­typ­ing and what author­ity, if any, col­leges have over stu­dents’ speech and opinions.

Before the young woman’s with­drawal state­ment, free-speech experts had praised UCLA’s deci­sion not to dis­ci­pline her and said other uni­ver­si­ties increas­ingly face such inci­dents in the Internet age.

Administrators’ deci­sion to drop the probe came with a scold­ing for Wallace. “While we were appalled and offended by the sen­ti­ments expressed in the video, we have uncov­ered no facts to lead us to believe the stu­dent code of con­duct was vio­lated,” UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton said.

UCLA’s con­duct code pro­hibits stu­dents from mak­ing threats and bans racial or sex­ual harass­ment so severe or per­va­sive that it impairs another’s par­tic­i­pa­tion in cam­pus life. The video by Wallace, a third-year polit­i­cal sci­ence major, did not do that, Hampton said. He declined to com­ment on her withdrawal.

In her video, posted a few days after the Japanese earth­quake, she com­plained about “hordes” of Asians enrolling at UCLA and said they had inter­rupted her library stud­ies with cell phone calls about the tragedy in Japan.

Wallace could not be reached for an inter­view Friday. In her state­ment to the Bruin, she expressed deep regret. “Especially in the wake of the ongo­ing dis­as­ter in Japan, I would do any­thing to take back my insen­si­tive words. I could write apol­ogy let­ters all day and night, but I know they wouldn’t erase the video from your mem­ory, nor would they act to reverse my inap­pro­pri­ate action.”

Hampton said UCLA police were inves­ti­gat­ing the threats against Wallace and that she had been given a secure way to take her final exams this week.

Adam Kissel of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a free speech group, said UCLA had the right to open an inves­ti­ga­tion but should have dropped it more quickly. “What UCLA prob­a­bly should have done is take three min­utes to watch the video and take another other three min­utes to con­clude the speech was pro­tected,” he said.

Students always have said nasty things about each other but the Internet now allows every­one to see that, Kissel noted. So “out of mis­placed desire to pro­tect stu­dents from per­haps crass con­ver­sa­tion,” schools are over­re­act­ing and vio­lat­ing free speech, he said.

UCLA law pro­fes­sor and First Amendment expert Eugene Volokh said the cam­pus was wise to back off. “This woman expressed her opin­ion, an offen­sive opin­ion to be sure,” but did not advo­cate vio­lence or harass any­one, he said.

Earlier, sev­eral stu­dents said they were dis­ap­pointed the cam­pus did not plan to take action against Wallace.

Layhannara Tep, a Cambodian American who is direc­tor of the Asian Pacific Coalition stu­dent group, said Wallace should have been asked to take an eth­nic stud­ies or his­tory class that would expose her to other cul­tures. Tep and oth­ers crit­i­cized UCLA for not requir­ing all stu­dents to take at least one such class.

Two other Los Angeles area uni­ver­si­ties have grap­pled recently with sim­i­lar issues.

At California State, Long Beach, a stu­dent news­pa­per arti­cle ridiculed a recent American-Indian cul­tural fes­ti­val. Campus pres­i­dent F. King Alexander said Thursday that the writer’s opin­ion, while allowed under free speech, does not have uni­ver­sity support.

At the University of Southern California, a crude Internet mes­sage advis­ing young men how to take advan­tage of women has cir­cu­lated among fra­ter­ni­ties and beyond, trig­ger­ing out­rage. The mes­sage orig­i­nated out­side USC, but the university’s chap­ter of Kappa Sigma, the fra­ter­nity to which it was sent, has been sus­pended dur­ing an inves­ti­ga­tion, offi­cials said Friday. n

© 2011, Los Angeles Times.

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Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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