School Narrowly Votes to Approve ‘Caucasian Club’

It was a close vote, and not everyone is happy with either the concept or the name. But in addition to an African-American club, a Cambodian club, a Polynesian club, an Egyptian club and some two dozen other “cultural” clubs, Polytechnic High School in Long Beach will also have a “Caucasian Ancestry Club.”

The decision came after a meeting Monday of the Polytechnic Community Interracial Council, an advisory group of administrators, teachers, students and parents. Although some participants were worried about the club being perceived as a white supremacist group, the council finally decided that the club should be considered “innocent until proven guilty.”

“I still have some concerns about the kind of image (the club name) projects,” Principal H. J. Green said after the 12-10 vote to let the club keep its name. “But I have a lot of faith in the kids” who started the club. “They’re good kids.”

The controversy began last month, when a group of white students at the 3,700-student school, where less than a third of the student body is white, decided to start a club dedicated to the study of European history and culture. Under school rules, membership in the club is open to anyone, regardless of race or cultural background.

“We (white students) didn’t really have a club that we fit into,” explained club President Scott Wright. “I wanted to find out why my ancestors left Europe, and what hardships they suffered, things like that.” He added, however, that “the main purpose of the club is to socialize and meet new friends.”

Wright said the first meeting of the club--the only meeting, so far--attracted about 80 people “from about 12 different races.” About 45 students joined the club.

But after word of the club got home to parents, and after a story about it appeared in a Long Beach newspaper, Principal Green’s phone started ringing.

“People were calling me up and asking, ‘What’s this white supremacy group you’ve got on campus?’ ” Green said. There were concerns that the word Caucasian might be confused with Aryan or some other racially charged word. Green said he asked club members to change the name, but they refused.

“We felt it was our right to name it like we wanted it,” Wright said. It was, he said, a matter of principle to stand up to the principal.

Finally the Interracial Council was called upon to decide the issue--not whether the club could exist but whether it could use Caucasian in its name.

But Wright and other club supporters argued that Caucasian appears on many school forms. They also pointed out that every year, Polytechnic staff members choose students from each of five officially designated racial groups--African-American, Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander and Caucasian--as the school’s “International Ambassadors.”

“If the word Caucasian is racist, then this school is racist,” senior Mike Cipra said.

In a move that would have warmed the heart of any high school English teacher, one student quoted Shakespeare--”Romeo and Juliet” --to make her point.

“What’s in a name?” said senior Molly Sullivan. “That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.” In her own words she added: “Regardless of what you call it, it would still be the same club. It would still smell as sweet, or as bad.”

Student Robin Willis, an African-American, remained unconvinced.

“I really don’t like the purpose of the club,” Willis said. “It’s not needed.” European culture, she said, is studied every day in class, and she fears that the club’s name will cause problems in the future. Some other students expressed similar concerns.

But Mike Cipra told the council that the club deserves the benefit of the doubt.

“In this country,” he said, “isn’t it innocent until proven guilty?”

That argument may have been telling. After the vote, council Chairwoman Lawanda Reynolds said, “We should give them (the club members) a chance. It’s like that young man said. Innocent until proven guilty.”