How 4 Words Upended A University’s Journalism Program, And Stirred A Reckoning Over Race

Last semester, in the weeks before October 12, anticipation was building among students and staff at California State University, Dominguez Hills. College journalists working on the student newspaper, The Bulletin, had been interviewing, writing, and designing a special Hispanic Heritage Month issue to celebrate the university’s Latino contributions and culture.

The issue would be a big deal for the South Los Angeles County campus because almost seven out of every 10 of the university’s students identify as Hispanic or Latino. That’s one of the highest proportions in the 23-campus Cal State system.

Six minutes after three in the afternoon on that day, Joel Beers, the advisor for The Bulletin and instructor for the class that published the newspaper, emailed a link for the online version of the publication to about 1,200 faculty, staff, and student workers.

“There will be a 12-page print issue of the CSUDH Bulletin distributed on campus tomorrow morning (fingers crossed),” Beers wrote in the email.

The first thing people who clicked on the link saw was the cover.

Twenty-two words in white letters written over a big blue field. Along the top half were words like BORICUA, LATINX, MIXED.

Toward the bottom, four other words, common slurs against the Latino population with wrongful connotations on immigration status, race, or cultural stereotypes.

What happened in the minutes, days, and months after Beers hit send on that email has rocked the campus journalism program like nothing faculty can remember and continues to affect students and staff more than three months later.