It used to be thought that college was where you went to open your mind, explore ideas and, in the words of Robert Maynard Hutchins, former president of the University of Chicago, “be freed from the prison-house of … class, race, time, place [and] background.”
To judge by recent news from California, though, college is now the place to go to put racism, narrow-mindedness or plain old ignorance on parade.
Just two weeks after the infamous “Compton Cookout”—an off-campus party where the presumably white attendees were invited to come in ghetto wear and assume ghetto personalities—the University of California at San Diego finds itself dealing with a young woman who left a noose hanging in the library.
In the case of the party, the university administration was able to distance itself, calling the event offensive and noting it was “not sanctioned” by the college. Since the school’s jurisdiction ended at the campus gate, a spokesperson explained, they were unable to take action. The library, however, is definitely on campus. Administrators acted quickly to suspend the culprit, but they also decided to protect her identity.
We wish these were isolated bias incidents, but they are not. Not long ago, a Jewish student found a swastika carved into her dormitory door at UC Davis.
Led by the Black Student Union (BSU), many students at UCSD who were already upset by the Compton Cookout are now protesting the noose, the university’s response to both incidents, and the school’s dismal effort to recruit and retain African American students.
Predictably, sides have been drawn that illustrate too plainly how difficult it is for people to do something that’s basic to a liberal education—understand another’s point of view.
Some claim the protestors are overreacting, especially since the young woman who left the noose in plain sight apparently intended no harm. Still anonymous, she has apologized and explained that a chance discovery of a hank of rope led to play and to one young man’s demonstration of his unusual talent. Writing in the Guardian, the school’s newspaper, she admitted, “I innocently marveled at his ability to tie a noose, without thinking of any of its connotations or the current racial climate at UCSD. …”
Once she heard the news about a noose found in the library, and realized it was being interpreted as a racial act, she came forward. At least she gets it now.
Other students claim not to understand what the fuss is all about. One young man explained in an online comment that “making fun of people” is the theme that unites all the parties he has ever attended at college. Others adamantly deny that the noose has a symbolic meaning. And there are those who believe both the party and the noose were harmless pranks, the protesters are a bunch of oversensitive souls who just can’t take a joke, and the hoopla an overblown media event.
Anyway you look at it, these events signal stunning insensitivity coupled with a singular ability to completely discount different points of view. In a college whose motto, “fiat lux,” means “let there be light,” someone needs to put a match to a candle.
People faced with ignorance or hate can click here for help identifying and responding to bias incidents at school.
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