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Plantation Room sign draws concern on campus
Name, rebel flags viewed as barring black students
W Plantation room
This sign with Confederate symbols hangs at Rumrunners Plantation Room, a bar and music venue near campus. Some students are concerned that the images add up to a racist message and imply that black students are unwelcome. - photo by Al Hackle/special
Georgia Southern University officials, specifically from the Dean of Students’ Office and the Multicultural Student Center, plan to meet today with students leading efforts to change the sign and symbolism used by Rumrunners Plantation Room, a bar and music venue near campus.One of the students is Jordin Hall, whose petition on the website www.change.org had drawn 1,840 supporters as of 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Hall, 20, a senior majoring in psychology, started the petition Feb. 11, seeking to have the business change its name. She and other students object that the Plantation Room name and associated symbols make African-Americans feel unwelcome.On the sign, two images of the pre-2001 Georgia state flag — the flag whose largest part was the Confederate battle emblem — cross swords, which serve as staffs, to form the “A” in “Plantation.”
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