Confederate Flag - Racism

<p>BMC has been my D’s top college choice for several months now after 2 visits. I have recently read that there has been a problem with students with racism and displaying the Confederate flag in dorm rooms. </p>

<p>I would like to hear from current students or their parents about how this is being handled by the college and whether they believe this to be an ongoing problem at BMC. With BMC being such a small school, it could do a lot of harm individually and to promote overall close-knit unity that my D was hoping for.</p>

<p>Please share your thoughts.</p>

<p>I am not affiliated with Bryn Mawr, but from what I’ve read, virtually the entire community was upset by the incident and it was not tolerated. No school is immune from idiots. I should think you’d be impressed by the way the school responded.</p>

<p>I don’t see the harm over the Confederate flag, they certainly allow it to be flown in the South publicly.</p>

<p>My RA displayed several graphic posters that would qualify as soft porn in his dorm room. We would have to have meetings in his dorm room. No one cared, it was tolerance of his lifestyle. Yes, it could have been reported and banned, but we didn’t report it.</p>

<p><a href=“Bryn Mawr Students Hang Confederate Flag, Tape Off Mason-Dixon Line In Dorm”>Homepage - Infinite Scroll - Liberal America;

<p>There are many many flags and symbols that offend some people. I don’t think the Confederate flag is worthy of that much attention. If someone acts in a racist manner, and NONE of what I read indicates racism, that is different.</p>

<p>It was <em>two</em> girls who put up a flag in a shared space. I would have told them to put it up in their rooms, and would have no problem with them putting it up on their window. That is up to them.</p>

<p>I understand that the students could hang the flags under the First Amendment, but I wondering if this was a part of a deeper racial issue on campus. From what I read in the article, BMC administration was slow to respond because they wanted the honor code and student self government to work it out.
<a href=“http://mainlinemedianews.com/articles/2014/09/27/main_line_times/opinion/doc5421809998bd5925449053.txt?viewmode=fullstory”>http://mainlinemedianews.com/articles/2014/09/27/main_line_times/opinion/doc5421809998bd5925449053.txt?viewmode=fullstory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I’m a current first year at Bryn Mawr College and I have to admit that after being here for only a month and hearing this happened was a huge shock and upset me. The students here are so passionate about this issue as we are about other socio-cultural issues. We held a peaceful demonstration where we stood in solidarity to raise awareness about race at BMC. Our SGA (Self Governing Association) is working with the student body, administration and the Pensby Center which is our community’s leadership and social justice involvement organization to produce new resolutions on how to further support race/religious/cultural diversity on campus and in the community. As a student, seeing all of the students come together and stand strong to fight these issues has made me proud of my community; although I do have some reservations about our administration, the students here make sure to be heard and bring equal rights and acceptance to our school. </p>

<p>The two girls put up a confederate flag in the hallway of their dorm and taped a Mason Dixon line on the ground. They then moved the flag to their room but it was visible through the window which was still a problem. </p>

<p>I’m a parent of a current first year at Bryn Mawr. She told us about the incident when it happened, the reaction of the student body and administration, and some of the follow-up. As she reported it to us, the two students in question said that they hung the flag out in order to assert their free speech rights.</p>

<p>It’s my understanding also from my daughter’s explanation that the administration at first left the response to the incident up to student self-government, letting the matter work its way first through the internal dorm resolution procedure and then through the wider self government association. Bryn Mawr and Haverford are rightly proud of their traditions of student self-governance, and it seems reasonable to me that the administration’s first reaction would be to stand back to allow the SGA to address the matter.</p>

<p>I’ve been careful not to get involved other than to listen, because my daughter, as every other student, needs to work through their own reactions to this incident. I get that the Confederate flag is hugely offensive to many people, including me. But I do find it amusing to watch students, like the classmate of my D’s posting in this thread above, tie themselves in knots producing “resolutions on how to support cultural diversity” while at the same time “standing strong to fight these issues” when a couple of students bring a little too much diversity to the culture. </p>

<p>I am a graduate from the '80s, and my daughter is at H’ford now. She attended the peaceful demonstration. BMC seems to admit a few frank weirdos with every class. Keeps things lively, but I don’t think generally the environment is at all tolerant of racism. Behavior like this gets a whole lot of earnest, idealistic young women riled.</p>

<p>Thank you for your candid replies. It certainly helps to put things in context.</p>