Two weeks after a man assaulting a Hopkins student met his end at a samurai sword, a candidate for freshman class president has used the "samurai sword killing" in a campaign advertisement.
Both Residential Life and the Committee for Student Elections (CSE) appear to have approved the poster, which reads "9 out of 10 Hopkins Samurai are Voting Wyatt Larkin for President." "It's just a joke, and people seem to get it," Larkin said. He declined to comment further.
CSE Chair Dylan Cowart defended the poster and his committee's decision.
"I believe that this was a judgment call, and I do believe in maintaining freedom of expression. The CSE will continue to minimize the limitation of freedom of speech during campaign periods when the students must decide for themselves who they wish to see as their representative," he said.
Marc Perkins, president of the Student Government Association, felt that the advertisement should not have been approved
Though Perkins had not seen the advertisement, when it was described to him he said it was "distasteful."
"That's insensitive. It's totally messed up... I would not have approved it," he said. "It glorifies the fact that a man was killed."
Cowart said that if there were concerns about the advertisement, the CSE would meet and consider whether or not the posters should be taken down.
The CSE has not received any complaints about this poster or any other campaign advertising this year.
Residential Life policy states that posters will not be approved if they "contain material that is pornographic; harasses any individual or group on the basis of race, gender, national origin, religion or sexual orientation; contains a message of hate or a threat of violence; or otherwise violates University policy."
A copy of the campaign poster obtained by The News-Letter was marked with the red stamp of approval from the Office of Residential Life.
Hopkins spokesperson Dennis O'Shea declined to comment on the issue. Residential Life could not be contacted before press time.
When determining the appropriateness of campaign posters, Cowert said that the CSE looks for "explicit articles that would be inappropriate or offensive."
"We are concerned with maintaining a non-offensive environment, but at the same time the manner in which the candidate maintains his or her campaign should be considered his own. The voters then have the right to judge that candidate and vote for themselves," he said.
This flier and resulting student reactions of course brings to mind the original incident in which Hopkins undergraduate John Pontolillo used a samurai sword to kill an intruder in his house on E. University Parkway.
According to reports, Pontolillo heard sounds in his porch that night and confronted the intruder, Donald Rice. As Rice allegedly lunged at him, Pontolillo struck him in the wrist and lacerated his chest. Rice died at the scene.
The next day, the news spread like wildfire among Hopkins students through Facebook and word of mouth.
For most students, when they first heard of it, they were in shock or disbelief. The circumstances seemed surreal, and the use of a samurai sword added to the absurdity of the scene.
"You couldn't help but laugh," freshman Jeff Boye said.
"When my friends heard of it, they told me, 'It gives another meaning to being cutthroat at Hopkins,'" freshman Jason Chen said.
Pontolillo was quickly glorified as a hero by many. Facebook status updates proudly declared, "Don't mess with Hopkins students." A website www.johnpontolilloisabadass.com was created, and even sells merchandise.
While some students were laughing and lauding Pontolillo, other members of the Hopkins community saw the incident in a more somber light.
"I hope that as a Hopkins community we will recognize the need to mourn this event, both for the difficult road Mr. Pontolillo has ahead and for the loss of Mr. Rice's life, rather than celebrating violence of any kind," History Professor Melanie Shell-Weiss wrote in an e-mail to The News-Letter. "I think everyone involved in that incident was in some way in the wrong. The student shouldn't have put himself in that situation but, as it is, the situation is hard to sort out. I don't envy those in the legal system who have to decide on a point of action," math professor Andrew Salch said.
Students interviewed by The News-Letter seemed to be undecided about whether Pontolillo was justified in his actions. However, the majority did not think Pontolillo should be charged with a crime.
The incident has also raised concerns over the relationship between the Hopkins community and the surrounding area.
"I think that students are becoming more conscious of the fact that they are living in a city. Hopefully they are taking measures to keep themselves protected at night," Perkins said.
But Shell-Weiss felt that by shutting themselves off, Hopkins students run the risk of stopping connections from forming between these two groups.
"I hope that this occasion might present an opportunity for members of our university to forge a closer bond with neighborhood residents rather than tearing us apart," she wrote.
The incident also revealed much about Baltimore prison system. Rice had been convicted 29 times and was released from the Baltimore City Detention Center just days before he was killed.
A recent article from the Baltimore Sun revealed that Rice said he was an aspiring law student when he first convicted, which he alleged was done on perjured testimony.
Frustrated with the justice system, he said he eventually became a product of his environment and lived a life of crime for 30 years. Upon hearing this about Rice, Hopkins students expressed disdain for the justice system.
Several expressed the need for greater emphasis on rehabilitation and reform for prisoners, to offer pathways toward a life free of crime after release.
The Hopkins Jail Tutorial program is a student organization that volunteers at the Baltimore City Detention Center, working with inmates very much like Rice.
"It's so easy to think criminals are just bad people, but they all have a story of how they went down this path," said a leader in the program.
"At first, I reacted like everyone else did and laughed at the bizarre nature of the incident. But it really is a sad story. That man was probably not too different from the ones I worked with."
- Additional reporting by Payal Patnaik
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