School official calls evacuees "yard apes"
 

WARNING: LONG ARTICLE

By Ben Szobody
STAFF WRITER
bszobody@greenvillenews.com


A Greenville Technical College official who school leaders say twice referred to New Orleans evacuees in Greenville as "yard apes" has resigned, according to the school.

The college moved Wednesday to show it was an isolated incident and that it is intent on building a work force representative of the black community.

"She's not a member of this institution today," said Greenville Tech President Tom Barton. "Too much damage had been done."

Renee Holcombe, formerly an associate vice president for student services with a staff of about 40, told employees in two separate briefings last week that the school's aid for the mostly black hurricane victims staying at the Palmetto Expo Center would include sending yellow buses to pick up the "yard apes," said Barton and senior vice president Ben Dillard.

Reached at her home Wednesday, Holcombe declined to comment except to say that she was "numb and shocked."

Dillard said Wednesday that Holcombe was referring specifically to the children of evacuees, who were provided separate transportation.

The derogatory term is based on long-held stereotypes comparing blacks to monkeys and is considered "highly offensive" to blacks, said Dr. John Simpkins, associate director of the Riley Institute at Furman University. Simpkins also is an assistant professor at the Charleston School of Law and an author on race and culture in the South.

Paul Guy, president of the NAACP's local chapter, said what disturbs him most is that 15 black workers attended the meetings and none of them reported the remark to the NAACP. He said it could indicate black employees "are afraid to speak up," although he has not fully investigated the matter.

Holcombe submitted her resignation to Dillard and there was no financial settlement, Barton and Dillard said.

She had been employed at the college for 19 years.

"Renee believed in her own mind that the best thing for her and the institution was for her to separate from us," Dillard said. Barton said there was "no doubt" what she had said, and that he was prepared to take action if she did not resign.

"That's where it was headed all along," Barton said. "We're in an era now that we've never been in before. Anybody who can't adjust to that philosophy shouldn't be operating in this institution."

Greenville Tech officials pointed Wednesday to 2004 figures contained in the state Human Affairs Commission's annual report to the General Assembly that show the school ranked in the top 15 out of 77 state agencies for reflecting the diversity of the available labor pool.

One of the 25 executives and managers employed by the school, or 4 percent of the total, is a black male, according to the report. In the labor pool qualified for such positions, about 2.9 percent are black males, according to the report, meaning the school has exceeded its goal in that category.

Greenville Tech also employs one black female in a management or executive role -- also 4 percent of the total -- but since 9.4 percent of the qualified labor force is comprised of black females, the school has "underutilized" black women, the report said.

The report breaks down Greenville Tech's black employment in 12 categories -- six male and six female -- and shows the "underutilization" of blacks in two of them. Four hires would satisfy the requirements.

Guy said while the state figures are reassuring, some blacks have complained that they have fewer chances for advancement and are afraid to speak out on campus. He has not told Barton about the specific allegations, he said, but plans to meet with him this week.

Barton said an organization the size of Greenville Tech is bound to have some employees who are dissatisfied, but that if they systemically feared speaking out, "I would know it."

"I don't know it," he said.

About 25 to 30 people were in the meeting where Holcombe made her remarks, Dillard said, but not her immediate supervisor, who is Nancy Welch.

Simpkins said, "It wasn't so long ago when it would have been socially acceptable to use such language because there wouldn't have been African Americans around to hear it in the first place."

"You're speaking of them as less than human, and it goes to the basic dignity of every human being," he said. "It's unfortunate, but it's also a sign that there's still a lot of work to do in terms of race relations."

When asked why it took five days to reach a resolution, Dillard said he was notified of the remark before lunch on Friday by an associate vice president who was not at the meeting but had been told by someone who was. He said his first priority was to make sure Holcombe apologized to the people affected, which he said took place Friday afternoon and Monday.

Barton said he was informed of the matter late Friday, and on Monday the school set about gathering more information about the incident. Holcombe resigned on Tuesday, although Barton said he didn't have official confirmation until Wednesday morning. He said he considers the matter closed, and that no other employee will be disciplined.

Any time the school loses a staff member, Dillard said, it reconsiders the position to determine if it can do without. Holcombe's post was "critical" and will most likely be filled, he said.

The school has two employees at the associate vice president level who are minorities, said Helen Clarkson, director of human resources, one of whom serves on the school's leadership team.

None of its vice presidents are minorities, although Barton said it's "not because we haven't advertised everywhere."

Currently vacant is the vice president of finance position, which could be split into two vice president posts because of huge administration and facilities responsibilities that come with it, Barton said.

Part of the problem, he said, is finding someone qualified to take on a $75 million budget at the state's third-largest academic institution, behind only Clemson University and the University of South Carolina. The state sets minimum salary and educational requirements for each job, Clarkson said, and not a single minority has applied for the current vacancy.

"We've got to bring them from wherever they are," Barton said. "They might be in Alaska, I don't know where they are, don't care, but if they can come here ... and provide leadership, that's what we're looking for."

At Clemson University, one of nine executive vice presidents is black, said spokeswoman Cathy Sams.

Among all executives at the University of South Carolina -- deans, associate deans, department heads and vice presidents -- 5.51 percent are minorities, according to 2004 figures supplied by spokeswoman Margaret Lamb.

In the 2004 state ranking of its agencies, five technical schools and a handful of agencies, including the Governor's Office and the Department of Commerce, ranked ahead of Greenville Tech's 94.7 percent rate for achieving a work force that reflects the racial makeup of the qualified labor pool.

That rate is an improvement from 60.7 percent in 1986, Clarkson said.

Six state technical schools were listed below Greenville Tech in the rankings, as well as Clemson and all USC campuses.


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Run her out of town on a rail
:mad:

I can't believe an educated person would be that ignorant to make such a stupid remark. She deserved to lose her job. Ignorance is not an excuse.

LMAO because there was a comedy spot on a radio station here with a father talking in very broad Pittsburghese and he called his obnoxious sons yard apes. Or to be more specific, yinz two yard apes. I seriously had no idea it had any racial connotation or that it was used anywhere else - I thought it was just something they made up because it sounded funny.

Re: School official calls evacuees "yard apes"
 

Buh, shouldn't that say DUMB and STUPID? How do these idiots survive to adulthood?

Same here...I thought the same thing, kind of like referring to children (ANY CHILDREN) as "rug rats". Good to be enlightened about something new....

Or "carpet crunchers"

I use that term all the time to describe children of all colors, but then I'm a hateful shrew and probably don't set the best example. I guess I should stick to calling them crumb snatchers or crotch crickets from here on out.

lol, WDVE i'm guessing? Haven't heard that one yet.

I remember some book from when I was a kid that used the term yard ape.... don't remember which though

It's one of Beverly Cleary's Ramona books. She has a friend she calls yard ape.

I've heard a lot of people call their own children rug rats, house apes, yard apes, etc.

However,

They were talking about their own kids in different connotations.

This teacher was dumb.

I have never heard the term "yard ape" before...but nevertheless, this disaster has brought out the best and unfortunately, the worst in people. Ok, maybe that should read the stupidity in people. :rolleyes:

It's the one where they go to Pants N'At and Donnie Iris's twin brother, Lonnie, is working the all night shift.

When I first read about it, I had never heard the term "yard apes". It didn't come to mind as racist but I knew that was the reaction that was coming. I thought name calling in general was rather unprofessional in a board meeting. I figured saying something like this would be in private or between just a few people, not at work.

BTW, this lady was the associate vice president for student services at the school and wasn't a teacher. She was an employee at the school for 20 years. 20 years down the tube. She'll never get a job in SC, GA, or NC for sure. Now that it's gone national, she won't get a job anywhere.

I'll bet the system will give her a 20 year retirement package and let her slip quietly into the sunset...

If they can do it quietly.

Same here! At work I have a coworker (who has 5 kids) call them ankle biters

they're scrambling to cover their asses for something that wasn't even a racist statement.

reminds me of that guy that the mayor of D.C. let go for (correctly) using the word "niggardly" in a speech. i think he eventually rehired the guy. i was in high school, at the time. i expect that thing from our nation's capitol, though. before that mayor, didn't they re-elect a crackhead?

Greenville Tech could've just Googled it. Googled it before the NAACP decided they needed to comment.

i had forgotten about Beverly Cleary's Ramona until i read this thread. we watched Ramona's Bad Day in the 3rd grade, i think. you had to bring in a permission slip for movie day, but there was trail mix and popcorn.

Without knowing her, how can you determine what her intentions were? True, she could use this term in her everyday speech to refer to her family and friends. However, it's certainly is not uncommon for some form of the terms ape or monkey to be used in an offensive manner towards African Americans. One of the most common uses was 'porch monkey', which was (and sometimes still is) used to degrade and dishonor blacks. I can't help but to notice the similarities btwn the two. Are you just giving her the benefit of the doubt, or is this a popular pet name that all people in this town use for one another?

I've heard the expression "yard apes" before and am aware of the racial connotation -- I don't think it's terribly rare, although maybe it's an older term that people don't use much any more -- thankfully.

Renee Holcombe, formerly an associate vice president for student services with a staff of about 40, told employees in two separate briefings last week that the school's aid for the mostly black hurricane victims staying at the Palmetto Expo Center would include sending yellow buses to pick up the "yard apes," said Barton and senior vice president Ben Dillard.

Seriously, if you are stupid enough to refer to people as "yard apes" even if you don't know the racial connotations during an EMPLOYEE BRIEFING, you're really too stupid to be working for the schools. Since when is it okay to call children ANY name while addressing employees in a relatively formal capacity?

Exactly. If she had called them rug rats or something else of the like, people would have been just as upset.

you're right, i don't know her. so really i really don't know. but i'm giving her the benefit of the doubt when she says she wasn't being racist because

1. it's something i've heard before to refer to children, without negative connotation--even Ramona says so :)

2. the senior VP of Greenville Tech, said that the children of evacuees were being provided separate transportation (the big yellow school buses)

some people say that it's derogatory comparison because it refers to people as primates (e.g. "porch monkeys") but i don't see that. to me, saying that "yard apes" is racist, would mean that jungle gyms and monkey bars are racist playground apparatus.

* * *
i think that the staff writer for The Greenville News could have worded this better:

Renee Holcombe, formerly an associate vice president for student services with a staff of about 40, told employees in two separate briefings last week that the school's aid for the mostly black hurricane victims staying at the Palmetto Expo Center would include sending yellow buses to pick up the "yard apes," said Barton and senior vice president Ben Dillard.

people all over are misreading that little blip on the internet, thinking that she made mention of the fact that the evacuees were mostly black.

FYI, I am from Greenville, SC and I just moved back there. We don't usually call people yard apes. Like I said, I had never heard of calling people yard apes until this happened.

Now that I know what it is, I don't think it was racist because apparently people call children this no matter the race. I personally wouldn't call children rugrats in a board meeting.

Official Wants Her Job Back
 

Greenville Tech Administrator Wants Job Back After Calling Evacuees "Yard Apes"
-- WHNS, Fox News

A former administrator at Greenville Tech who resigned earlier this month, now wants her job back. Renee Holcombe stepped down as Associate Vice President of Student Services after making comments some found offensive. She admits to calling the evacuees of Hurricane Katrina who came to Greenville “yard apes” at two separate employee meetings.

On the Greenville Tech campus, controversy over the former adminstrator’s comments still has student’s talking. Bradley Dendy told Fox Carolina, "I think she should have kept it to herself." And Carrie Anne Thaxton said Holcombe never should have made the comment. Thaxton said "I don't think she meant what she said, but this day and age you can't say anything because you don't know, people take everything differently."

Now Holcombe has filed an appeal with the State Budget and Control Board Office of Human Resources to get her job back. Student Jennifer Deberry hopes that doesn’t happen. Deberry told us, "She knew what she was doing before she did it and I just don't think they should give her another chance."

Members of the NAACP agree. They want to make sure that Holcombe never works at Greenville Tech again. President Paul Guy said, "The use of this term demonstrates a total lack of sensitivity and shows a deep cultural bias toward black people."

But Renee Holcombe and her lawyer say the term wasn’t meant in a racial way. Holcombe says “yard apes” was used in the book “Ramona Quimby Age 8” by Beverly Cleary. In one passage the book reads “she yelled again, tears of anger in her eyes, yard apes!”.

Fox Carolina talked to Holcombe’s lawyer Melvin Hutson. He said, “We really don’t understand or agree with the NAACP’s position. This was an unintentional insult even if it was an insult.” But members of the NAACP say the use of “yard apes” is never acceptable when referring to people no matter with their race is. Civil rights activist Ennis Fant said, "Everybody is a part of the human family irrespective to color, we all pay taxes in this state."

Fox Carolina called Renee Holcombe, but she had no comment. Members of the NAACP plan to meet with the President of Greenville Tech on Monday. They are also investigating other concerns on campus like the lack of minority representation in managerial positions. We’ll keep you posted about what happens on The Ten O’clock News.