But I do agree with the student that the administrators, rather than defending their own position (Erika Christakis has reportedly been responding to critics with links to an Atlantic article called “The Coddling of the American Mind”), need to listen to the voices telling them that, in this instance, they have not managed to create a space for students of color, intellectual or otherwise.
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In response, Christakis and her husband Nicholas (Silliman’s headmaster) have been besieged by calls for their resignation by students who say they have made Yale a unsafe place for black students.
Protesters disrupted a forum about the future of free speech held by Yale University’s William F. Buckley, Jr.
“Every time people of color protest and bring forth their concerns for a more inclusive and sensitive college community”, their actions are seen as an attack on freedom of speech, Tiffany from St. Paul wrote in response to a column by Nicholas Kristof. In other words, everyday events that are bearable for anyone with a scintilla of rational thought are considered apocalyptic to these students.
Brett Davidson, a senior, said, “I stand behind all the demands set forth by the Black Student Alliance”, the most important of which, he said, was that Yale recruit a more diverse faculty. This may make us feel good, but it also polarizes, alienates, and leads us to see those with whom we disagree as simply stupid or evil. I’ve always found Halloween an interesting embodiment of more general adult worries about young people….
Reaction has been markedly different to the email controversy than past racial incidents. One feels for these students.
“…I have heard from a number of students who were frustrated by the mass email sent to the student body about appropriate Halloween-wear”. I wouldn’t want to be in her shoes now. I want them to be capable of swearing.
The debate about whether Yale protesters are impinging on the basic tenants of free speech has been picked up by a familiar Ivy League rival: Harvard students.
Oppenheimer’s essay was enlightening to me because of his particular perspective, having received both undergraduate (’96) and graduate (’03) degrees at Yale, before returning as an adjunct lecturer in 2006. Taking Howard’s reminder into account, protesters formed a clear path through which attendants could leave. A large group of students eventually gathered outside of the building on High Street. According to Buckley fellows present during the conference, several attendees were spat on as they left. More than 900 people said they planned to attend the “teach-in” at the Battell Chapel on the event’s Facebook page as of late Wednesday afternoon.
“The inclusion of a racially and sexually charged object in such a flagrant fashion displays a serious and immediate need for repercussions that reflect the severity of this misogynistic, racist offense”, the statement said. Both asked to remain anonymous because they were afraid of attracting backlash. This week’s conversations don’t affect only a few of us; they affect and include us all. And so, the thing that happened at the fraternity party and the way in which administrators are undercutting each other by, you know, first, an administrator-administrator sending out an email saying, “Please like respect-do not be culturally appropriative for Halloween”, and then another administrator saying, “Actually, cultural appropriation is fine”.
Basically, Christakis voiced an idea too many people have: if something is offensive, just look away from it instead of doing something. Grow up, kids-please. The whole point of the residential system-as distinct from Yale’s classrooms-is to be a safe space, or at least this is what Yale itself implies.
Over at the University of Missouri, there’s been something akin to the Saturday Night Massacre. The student pleaded guilty to using a threat of force to intimidate African-American students and school employees by helping hang the noose and drape an old Georgia state flag that incorporated a Confederate battle emblem on the statue of James Meredith.
The months-long protests at Missouri, kindled by several racial incidents during recent weeks, have sparked a boisterous nationwide discussion that in many ways has been about the parameters of listening. Can anyone decide? Who decides which spaces are safe? And Marquette is trying to strip a professor of tenure over a blog entry in which he criticized another instructor’s treatment of a student opposed to gay marriage. So, my question is: Are you going to say that or not? Her name is Melissa Click and according to her bio, she’s now researching 50 Shades of Gray and the relationship Lady Gaga has with her fans on social media. When the reporter refused, she went around the camp asking for “some muscle” to remove him. Ironically, the reporter is a student reporter for the Mizzou student newspaper.
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Salovey pledged at the end of last week to unveil a series next steps before Thanksgiving in a university-wide effort to improve the experiences of students of color. This coming from the governor who literally was a deer in the headlights concerning handling the Ferguson situation after Officer Darren Wilson justifiably shot Michael Brown in self-defense.
