The NUS Breakers poster that caused much controversy in the first week of the semester is still prominently displayed at some areas around campus.

This is despite the National University of Singapore Students’ Union stating more than three weeks ago that “action had been taken to remove all the posters.”

The poster was part of the publicity for the NUS Breakers 2008 event that ended more than two weeks ago.

NUS Breakers is traditionally held on an annual basis to break or set records for a charitable cause. The target this year was to complete assembling 10,000 paper pinwheels.

Even though copies of the poster pasted at high traffic areas such as the Central Forum had been removed, several of them can still be found at various locations.

These locations include areas along the AS3 building, outside Lecture Theatre 12 and the economics department.

When contacted for comment, NUSSU expressed its “regret to hear that there are still posters left out there which PRU did not manage to recover.”

PRU stands for the Public Relations Unit, which is the organiser of NUS Breakers.

According to NUSSU Director of Public Relations Aaron Seah, PRU gave NUSSU assurance that “all posters would be taken down.”

Students unaware of the initial controversy that drew ire from a portion of the exchange student population were not too concerned that the poster was still up.

Second-year literature major Pamela Ng said, “Honestly, I don’t have much of an opinion because I haven’t actually seen the posters myself. I’m surprised to hear though, that NUSSU hasn’t done anything about it.”

However, those who were aware of the posters were not surprised with NUSSU’s delayed response in removing them.

Second-year philosophy major, Lim Chong Ming, said, “The discrepancy between spoken words and action can only serve to illustrate and amplify the long-standing incompetence of NUSSU.”

The Breakers poster depicts a black stick figure reciting a few paraphrased lines from African-American civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous speech “I have a dream.”  

This prompted some exchange students from the United States to take issue with the derogatory representation of the caricature in the poster.

At press time, the posters have not been removed.