N.Y. students under fire for mock hostage video

5 face campus hearings over footage of rubber ducky mascot held captive

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updated 8:37 a.m. ET Feb. 8, 2007

BROOKVILLE, N.Y. - Five college students were stripped of residence-hall jobs and are facing campus hearings over a video that mimics a terrorist hostage taking.

In the video, five figures in ski masks speak in crude Middle Eastern accents as they threaten a mock captive — a rubber duck that serves as the mascot of a residence hall at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, Newsday reported Thursday. The video was posted on the Web sites Google and YouTube, the newspaper said, but it has since been removed.

The five students involved in the video were dismissed from jobs as residence hall assistants, though Provost Joseph Shenker said they would still get free housing and meals in exchange for 10 hours a week of community service.

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“I think the tape was an insult to the victims and families involved in hostage situations,” Shenker said. Student employees are expected to serve as role models, and “we expect them to be instructing our students on being sensitive regarding all groups.”

Shenker said the five seniors would face a hearing in the coming weeks, but he declined to say what disciplinary action could result.

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An attorney for the students, Frederick K. Brewington, said the college’s actions were unfair. The campus has about 8,500 undergraduate and graduate students.