Sunday, January 24, 1999
Ex-Miami students declare innocence
Race views made us targets, they say
BY RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![[exstudents]](/editions/1999/01/24/allensnow_180x131.jpg )
Brad M. Allen, left, and Nathaniel Snow, right, at a Saturday press conference with their lawyer, Kenneth Lawson.
(Yoni Pozner photo)
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Two Miami University students vigorously proclaimed their innocence Saturday in their first public comments since police charged them with posting racist messages at the campus' black learning center.
Nathaniel Snow, 22, of College Hill, and Brad M. Allen, 21, of suburban Cleveland, said Miami officials targeted them because they were vocal critics of the university's race relations policies.
The two were charged Thursday with criminal mischief and criminal trespassing in an Oct. 30 incident in which a staff member found several racist and anti-gay fliers at the Center for Black Culture and Learning.
Pro-Ku Klux Klan messages were posted on bulletin boards. A hand-scrawled drawing showed an African American being hanged.
The incident sparked a Nov. 10 protest by 100 students, mostly black, who joined arms and blocked traffic at U.S. 27 and Ohio 73.
It also led to Mr. Snow, president of the Black Student Action Association, meeting with University President James Garland to discuss race relations.
By charging two black men with the crime, university officials are “killing two birds with one stone,” Mr. Allen said. Not only is the case closed, he said, but allegations of racial unrest are discredited.
“The university has their own agenda,” Mr. Allen said. “They feel even our presence was a threat, guilty or not guilty.”
Richard Little, senior director of university communications, said campus police investigated the crime as they would any other.
“The police actions have nothing to do with the politics of the situation.”
Mr. Snow was a senior in the School of Education and Allied Professions. Mr. Allen was a junior in the School of Applied Science. Both withdrew Wednesday.
The men said Saturday they withdrew because they thought university officials planned to suspend or dismiss them, and they didn't want that on their academic records.
School officials said the men withdrew after reviewing lab results from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation that linked them to the incident. State crime lab experts matched 87 percent of the fingerprints on the fliers to Messrs. Snow and Allen, said Cathryn House, university safety director and chief of police.
Kenneth Lawson, a Cincinnati attorney who is representing the men, said the unidentified fingerprints and lack of other evidence provide his clients with a strong case.
Mr. Snow was to graduate in May with majors in English education and black world history. He said he has been involved in many campus and volunteer activities and has maintained a B-plus grade-point average.
“Why would I sacrifice all that for such a petty crime?” he asked.
The two are scheduled to appear Friday in Butler County Area One Court for a preliminary hearing. If convicted on both counts, each could face up to 90 days in jail and $750 in fines.
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![[exstudents]](/editions/1999/01/24/allensnow_500x363.jpg )