THis story is kind of shocking but only because the college actually acted on it.
If you actually knew the story and the student you wouldn't be saying "minor offense" or are students really "that sensitive". EJ is a great student, great leader and a very well respected part of the senior class at SMC. He is not one to throw out the race card every chance he gets. he was very offended by the whole situation. It wasn't just the song, that was just the start of it. EJ posted a video on youtube describing the situation. Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXo_KWelZJs.

After you see his perspective you might get a little more insight on what happened in the heat of the moment for him during this class. For a white person in a position of power (teacher vs student) to downplay a persons feelings toward race is unacceptable. Unless you are that person you can't question their reality. their reality and experience is theirs and only theirs.