Campus, Long Beach, News

Ethnic studies faculty dialogue inspires NWC cancellation

The provocatively titled play “N*gger, W*tback, Ch*nk” will not live to see a second year at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center after being cancelled by Cal State Long Beach President Jane Close Conoley due to negative feedback from ethnic studies faculty.

Subsequently, the executive director of the arts center, Michele Roberge, resigned while citing protest of censorship.

After reports of the cancellation flooded social media, CSULB community members took to social media to voice their outrage – or, in some cases, their relief that the show had been taken out of production.

The show was pulled from the schedule in part due to faculty criticisms regarding the worth of NWC as a vehicle to inspire critical conversations about race, gender and sexuality on campus. The show was initially presented to Conoley last year and then shown at the Carpenter Center in September 2015.

[related title=”Related Stories” stories=”40214″ align=”left” background=”on” border=”all” shadow=”on”]Conoley said that throughout the following spring semester, numerous ethnic studies faculty members voiced their concern or distaste for the play. Dean of the College of the Arts Cyrus Parker-Jeanette said this dialogue was concurrent with multiple race-related incidents that not only increased racial tensions within the campus community, but the skepticism directed toward administration.

“It is about timing and it is about an epoch of racial tension…” Parker-Jeanette said. “NWC is a performance that is comedic and perhaps even lightweight and gentle; the title is incendiary.”

According to Parker-Jeanette, the context of spring semester may have influenced Conoley’s final decision to pull NWC from production.

Last spring, safety issues were brought to the attention of administration when a student in a race, gender and sexuality class brandished a knife toward a black female student. CSULB students did not receive a timely warning from the school, which led to questions of trust and transparency directed toward administration. It was later revealed that the student who brandished the knife was a Community Service Officer escort.

Following that, in a student-run forum held to discuss the incident, the Sociology Student Organization revealed that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation took place on campus after Long Beach resident Jose Alvarez was detained in a CSULB Police holding cell. Alvarez was pulled over by a UPD officer due to a broken taillight and was deported to Tijuana four hours later.

Parker-Jeanette worked closely with Roberge throughout the duration of NWC’s production and subsequent cancellation. The dialogue surrounding the play’s value came to a head during the second of two meetings held to evaluate the relevance of the play’s content in regard to encouraging critical conversations on campus.

“It emerged in conversation that NWC was superficial, sophomoric and hurtful,” Parker-Jeanette said. “Michele disagreed and was angry.”

The meetings were hosted by Parker-Jeanette. Administration such as Conoley and former Provost David Dowell participated in this dialogue, as well as former Chicano Latino Studies Department Chair Jose Moreno, Chair of Africana Studies Maulana Karenga and other faculty members.

However, Parker-Jeanette said that it wasn’t solely the negative feedback that may have encouraged Conoley to cancel the show.

“Most [who attended the meetings] are people of color and all advised me that in this particular time, cancelling the show was the right thing to do,” Parker-Jeanette said.

Conoley retained that she only pulled academic support from the show, but had no hand in its cancellation.

Parker-Jeanette said that because the play was shown prior to race-related incidents on the CSULB campus during the spring semester, ethnic studies faculty advised administration and Roberge to cancel the show.

Parker-Jeanette said CPAC programming is autonomous and typically left to the discretion of the executive director and the dean of the college of the arts. From May of this year to August, Parker-Jeanette said she worked closely with Roberge in order to increase the relevance of the play and advocate for its positive return.

The plans included presenting racial topics through separate platforms to aid in interpreting NWC — such as panel presentations and film screenings, according to Parker-Jeanette.

Even so, the play was still heavily discouraged by faculty. Parker-Jeanette said that when she shared the input she received with Conoley, “cancellation was determined.”

Roberge said that prior to the cancellation of NWC, she had been anticipating a new, part-time position within the Carpenter Center. She held the position of general manager at the CPAC for five years, and subsequently moved on to her position as executive director in 2008. According to Roberge, because of issues with the state and national economy, a second general manager was never hired. Roberge said she picked up the workload of both executive director and general manager for the rest of her career, and that her, Parker-Jeanette and other CPAC staff were discussing a new position in which Roberge could focus on big-picture ideas for the center.

Roberge said she was looking forward to continuing her work at the Carpenter Center prior to the cancellation.

According to Roberge, the actors involved in NWC are planning on presenting the play again next spring at various colleges. In order to help universities afford the show, Roberge said the cast will be donating $1,000 to each venue in which they are performing.

According to Roberge, the cast of NWC will be paid the full amount of money they were promised by CSULB for a fall performance.The production will be using the money they were paid from CSULB to fund their donations.

Parker-Jeanette will be hosting a free panel discussing art, censorship and context Sept. 29, the same day NWC was slated to present this fall semester. The event will be held from 7 – 9 p.m. at CPAC.

According to Parker-Jeanette, she hopes the discussion will explore issues of censorship and is open to both students and the outlying community.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.

Daily 49er newsletter

Instagram