These 6 clips were taken from two separate on campus field trips during junior year and from the senior studio senior year. Each clip is separated from the next with about one second of black screen. That is how they can be differentiated. Explanations of each clip are listed below:
1) In clip one I have turned on my camera, but no one but me knows it's recording. As we walk we are passing a couple of churches on our right across the street. I was constantly getting tormented verbally on an everyday basis and here is a clear example of how. As we walk you'll notice a couple pass us on the left one of them is wearing a lime green jacket. As she passes me you can hear a student named Bill Weickman say, "you're going against the Western Church, Sudhama." This goes to show the level of ethnically based hostility toward me which permeated the everyday atmosphere of the class.
2) In the next clip everyone in the class pretty much realizes the camera is rolling. The person in front of the camera is Professor John Alexopoulos, does realize the camera is rolling. to the right is Eduardo Colon, to the left is Vivian Lee, Jim LeBlanc & other students. The professor still demonstrates his dislike for me by taking the stick he's holding and saying to me, "hold to this will ya." I start to say my hands are full and before I can he adds, "well do something." His manner is terse, gruff and rude. You can hear from the class reaction everyone took it as a diss. This is how he was when he knew he was being recorded. You can imagine how it was when he wasn't. Done on a regular basis it's probably easy to see how this could become infectious and permeate the class.
3) In the next clip Professor Alexopoulos makes an attempt to really hurt me. In 1987 4 days before Christmas when I was fifteen years old my father passed away due to complications from a previous stroke leading to a heart attack. The stroke left him bed ridden for about a year before he had a heart attack. I had shared this with members of the class, and as it was a small class (22 people) word about things got around fast. My father was also crippled and walked with a limp since he was two years old. I also shared this with members of the class. Professor Alexopoulos first mocks someone with a limp (my father) and then talks about people having strokes and points to me when he does so. There was no one else standing where I was when he pointed to me. Notice how he also looks into the camera as an added touch.
4) The fourth clip is pretty simple. Professor Alexopoulos is standing in front of me and makes one of his typical references to me. This type of reference is the much more subtle type I talked about in my summary of events. In order to get to me and isolate me from my fellow classmates Professor Alexopoulos would refer to me as a "terrorist" as he would talk. He'd do this most commonly by replacing the word "terrace" with the word "terrorist." This was meant solely to wear me down and cause me extra stress while everything else was going on, and it served as a continual reminder to those who might be doubtful of his behavior that it could happen to them as well. Here as he talks he bends down, straightens up and then refers to "the main library behind it on the terrace." However instead of saying "terrace" he uses the word "terrorist." I have many audio examples of this as well.
5) In the fifth clip he finishes a point he's making. He then gestures with his right hand around the people in front of me toward to where I am. He then passes in front of the people in front of me and as he does says,"he's crazy." The people in front of me obstruct the camera's view of him pointing to me as he passes in front of me and says this. None the less he was referring to me. In the last four clips you get a view of how Professor Alexopoulos behaved when he knew he was being recorded. It at times was much worse when he wasn't.
6) Here is a picture of the comment a fellow student made of a poor neighborhood in Hartford, Ct. This comment was posted right next to my desk. My desk as I focus in it is to the left with the picture of Martin Luther King hanging up above it. It's my picture which I posted to bring me solace and as a message to my harassers as to where I stand. The quote was as refers to the poor neighborhood,"it was really ghetto. I was walking with my head down." This in and of itself is not a terrible quote and I'm not thin skinned by any measure. However it was a part of the constant harassment bombardments I was subject to on a daily basis. This also ties into a larger project where I was given the wrong due date by Professor Alexopoulos so I would get a lowered grade. The fact that it was next to a picture of Martin Luther King does make posting it next to my desk especially abusive.
--for more info go to www.lawsuitagainstuconn.com
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UCONN Tourby Rice28m13,910 views
Hey man, I go to UConn and I am actually Greek 1st generation, my father was born in Istanbul and my mother in Greece. I majored in architecture for my associate degree as well. This somewhat surprises me with the professor being Greek, I would think he would be well educated about middle eastern people because Greeks have so much in common with the middle east culturally. People even mistake me for being lebanese or palastinian. His parents probably taught him Turks are bad, so he hates muslims
zeus72385 6 months ago
racism has existed since time immemorial
JCJasion 3 years ago
I really don't see the racism. I think he didn't like you but I don't see the racism. If you have law suit based on this you will lose.
sweetbrownskin 3 years ago
i personally feel very ashamed..but on the other hand i wouldnt expect less from such a fascist-face,besides he is immigrant too!
Fucking idiot..
lakeb0dom 3 years ago
Under the SYSTEM of racism (white supremacy), which is a global SYSTEM, that behavior is to be expected. It all comes down to what you do about it...what speech and/or action that you can use to replace the SYSTEM of racism (white supremacy) with a SYSTEM of justice.
ewilliams13 3 years ago
there is stopping racism, its called moral responsibility.
Racism isn't equated to breathing oxygen. It is NOT a necessary function of human existence. I graduated from UConn last year and this kind of incident does not surprise me at all. UConn is merely a hub for churrning out more New England suburbanites that lack common sense.
myRincon 4 years ago
stupid video
hezikiah777 4 years ago
its not uconn dawg its the usa...no matter what campus u go to theres going to be racism of some sort theres no stopping it
sciontcdude 4 years ago
C'mon that aint nothing. I'm black and Muslim, and I've been in worse situations than that before, and and I've actually done something about it, physically sometimes if it came to that. I'm not advocating violence, but you can speak up for yourself if you don't like what you're hearing. By staying quiet, you're encouraging these people to continue. I would have challenged this dude in front of the class the first time he said something like that. Now use this video as evidence.
MoPete15 4 years ago
Seriously, the best way to react would be to make a website about how asians/muslims should avoid the racists at UConn, with your story there. Once admissions start to fall, maybe the pricks will get the message. In this day and age, no one should have to take that crap, especially from one immigrant to another. Professor Alexopoulis should get fired or lose tenure or something. What a snide, bullying coward. Even in the south we treat people better than that.
olivechen90 4 years ago