Eugene School District responds to allegations of racism

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Story Published: Mar 15, 2007 at 10:27 PM PST

By Michele Armand

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After winning the boys 5A Basketball Championship, North Eugene students are facing another battle off court. A Portland-area high school says fans at North along with those at Churchill subjected them to racial taunts during the basketball games.

The allegations are launching investigations from both sides.

Students at Portland's Roosevelt High School say they were subjected to racial slurs and harassment at the state basketball championships held in Eugene last week.

Roosevelt principal Deborah Peterson wrote a memo about the incidents to the State Department of Education. She says Roosevelt students were called the n-word repeatedly by people of all ages and even by official personnel.

Students say they were the target of obscene gestures and were called other derogatory names.

"Calling us the n-word or flipping us off or doing other things is not a way to show sportsmanship," said Andre Pierce, a student at Roosevelt.

"Everybody is a person and everybody has a name and that was not my name so that made me very mad," said Tyra Frazier, a student at Roosevelt.

The Eugene School District says they're taking the allegations seriously and have launched their own investigation into the incidents.

"It's also something that we want to make sure, if we can, to pinpoint if it did happen and who's responsible so that students who wouldn't engage in that kind of behavior aren't unfairly tarnished by those accusations," said Kelly McIver of Eugene 4J School District.

Officials at 4J say they're not sure how long the investigation will take, but they plan on sharing their results with both the Portland Public School District and the Oregon Department of Education.

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