If you are a fan of Will Ferrell, then you probably know his character Ron Burgundy and his catch phrase from the movie Anchorman: “You stay classy, San Diego.” Though the egotistical Burgundy is a work of fiction, it seems that some students at the University of California, San Diego are sorely in need of some class in the first place. It appears that while a world’s worth of good will and great sportsmanship prevailed at the Olympics in Vancouver, racial tensions are causing things to fall apart on the UC San Diego campus.

It all started with an ill-conceived off-campus event—dubbed the “Compton Cookout”–during Black History Month that offended black UC San Diego students. Then came the on-campus television program that satirized the event, as well as used a racial epithet against blacks. Tension was already heightened on campus, but it was a third event—a noose, representative of the time of lynch mobs in the South, was found hanging in the campus library—that caused black students to crowd the UC San Diego Chancellor’s office and demand that something be done to combat racism on campus. Police are investigating the noose incident—a female student is said to have admitted hanging it— and campus officials are still debating on what punishment, if any, should be given to the cookout organizers.

It goes without saying that no one person or institution is perfect, but it is extremely disappointing when a college campus – the hallmark of higher education – becomes known for base behavior and outright ignorance. No one expects students to hold hands and skip around in harmonious glee, but certainly at a place where the goal is to better oneself through education, the “better” part of the equation isn’t adding up.

Race relations have always been a hot-button topic, but it is one that has often been overlooked on campus. But with the highly publicized unrest at UC San Diego, campus officials are being forced to take a closer look at what is going on both in and out of the classroom.

–Barbara Bellesi