Racism Suspected in Student Club Controversy : Education: After the Black Student Union was revived at Ventura High School, some white pupils tried to follow suit. Officials question whether their group is needed.

Zaylore Stout and some of his classmates at Ventura High School approached a history teacher to ask about reviving the school’s Black Student Union.

With only 43 blacks among a student body of about 1,800, “the students just felt there was a need for it,” said Stout, 17, a senior who transferred to the school from Katella High in Anaheim last year.

But that innocent beginning in September triggered a series of events that some teachers and students say stem from racism at the public school.

Shortly after the Black Student Union was approved by the student council, some white students on campus began trying to form a white student union, Principal Jerry Barshay said.

Darryl Gunderson, an Associated Student Body representative, said students Jerrod Wilson and Casey White asked him to present the issue of the proposed club to the student council for discussion.

One purpose of the club would be to study Northern European history and culture, organizers say. However, no teacher has stepped forward to sponsor the club, a necessary step before the council can vote on whether to make the club official. A review of the club by faculty members is also required.

Then, in October, Stout said he was punched in the face as he left campus by a white former student, who screamed a racial slur at him. The assailant may be a member of a local white supremacist group, Stout said. Police are investigating the incident.

Some Ventura High students say that racism is on the rise and that students from both Ventura and Buena High School, the city’s other public high school, attended a white supremacist meeting called by the leader of a local group of skinheads.

Since the attack on Stout and the proposal of the white student union, several students who have sided with either of the groups have been threatened, some students say.

The series of incidents may have started because of misunderstanding about the Black Student Union, school officials said. About a third of its 30 members are not black.

“There were a few kids who didn’t know what the club was about and instantly pictured black militancy,” said history teacher David Hess, who was Black Student Union adviser when the club was last active in 1989. “They were very threatened. They felt it was a negative deal.”

Robert G. Kaufman, editor of the school newspaper, said that if the white club were approved, it might cause more racial violence on campus.

“To the public, the club is saying they want to educate the students, but my opinion is that it is racially motivated,” he said. “The black (students are) an underrepresented group and they need some club to show that they’re somebody on campus. But the whites are a majority of the population.”

However, some backers of the white students’ club said the group’s request was not racially motivated, but simply a matter of equality.

“I’m sure it will cause controversy, but in all fairness I think they should be able to do it,” Gunderson said. “If they allow one group, they should allow all of them.”

Even Stout said he does not believe that racism was the underlying force.

“I think they wanted to do it just to prove they could do it,” Stout said.

The white student union may be the brainchild of a very small group of students, school officials said.

“I think the current feeling among the student government is there’s not a need for it,” Principal Barshay said. “I don’t think the faculty is in favor of it.”

While organizers of the white student union have said they have gathered 150 signatures on a petition supporting the group, school officials said they have yet to see a petition.

School officials, teachers, some board members and students questioned whether there is a need for a white student group, even given the group’s expressed purpose of studying more European history than is covered in class.

“I just don’t understand why they need one,” said Chandra Crudup, 17. “The ratio of black history to white history in our world history books is four (chapters) to 20. We want to bring out what isn’t in the history books. But what about white people isn’t in the history books?”

Ventura High history department Chairman Jim Sargent said study of European history receives ample coverage.

“I haven’t had people knocking on my door after school saying ‘I want to learn more history,’ ” said Sargent, who said he is ready to help students with extra research projects to learn more history of any kind. The state Department of Education-approved curriculum used in teaching history at the school covers people from all races and backgrounds, he said.

“I think that’s the straw-man argument,” Sargent said. “The real purpose is not to study more white history. That can be done at any time. I think the real purpose is antagonism, to get rid of other groups.”

Sargent said he declined a request by the students to act as an adviser to the white group.

“I tried to explain how many white groups have organized for offensive reasons, and minority groups for defensive reasons,” Sargent said. “The NAACP and other groups have organized to maintain their ethnic and cultural identity, and because they are not part of the power structure. Any organization I know of that specifically uses ‘white’ in its name is usually organized for offensive reasons.”

School board member John Walker said he failed to see the possible benefit of a white students club.

“I don’t believe it’s a good thing to do,” Walker said. “I think it further compounds the problem. It further drives a wedge between the white community and the minority community. Unless I can see some positive reason for it, I wouldn’t support it.”

Some students and administrators have differing opinions about how widespread racism is on campus. While some say it is not a problem, others say name-calling and graffiti including swastikas and neo-Nazi symbols are not uncommon.

“Ventura High is a good school and everything, but there’s so much racial tension,” said Renee Van, 15, who is black.

Barshay acknowledged that after the attack on Stout, racial tension increased at the school. But he said the school doesn’t have ongoing racial problems.

“But there’s racism in our society and educators have to deal with it,” he said.

In response to the incidents, officials are planning a series of seminars for all of the school’s students to teach them the harmful effects of name-calling, Barshay said.

A daylong training session had already been planned for Nov. 27 to give teachers strategies for instructing an ethnically diverse student body, he said.

And a multiracial campus group called the Rainbow Coalition is continuing work on assemblies throughout the school year to increase racial understanding on the campus.

As for the Black Student Union, members are busy planning activities for the year, including a program for Black History Month in February.

“The Black Student Union is continuing like it has from the very beginning,” Stout said. “This hasn’t stopped us at all.”

Times correspondent Paul Payne contributed to this story.