i·ro·ny - ˈīrənē/ - noun - the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
One nice thing about CC is the opportunity to unintentionally offend a wide variety of people.
And in another case of a student lacking critical thinking skills… Columbia student Nissy Aya will take 6 years instead of 4 to graduate because…
*"It’s traumatizing to sit in Core classes,” Aya said. “We are looking at history through the lens of these powerful, white men. I have no power or agency as a black woman, so where do I fit in?”
Aya mentioned that even in her most recent Art Humanities class, the word “primitive” was used five times to describe Congolese art—a label she did not speak up against because she was tired of already having worked that day to address so many other instances of racism and discrimination, she said."
*
http://columbiaspectator.com/news/2015/11/18/oma-forum-race
Now, while I agree that there has been some mistreatment of minorities in the past, the WORST thing one can do is NOT learn about history. How can change ever be made if no one studies what happened, and draw conclusions from where we think things went wrong and what we would do differently today?
And complaining about calling Congolese art ‘primitive’? That descriptor is applied to the works of untrained artists (in the early stages of artistic technique) regardless of race or global location. So I don’t get her point.
Can you just imagine the campus tours:
Parent: Excuse me what is the area?
Tour Guide: Sir/Ma’am, that is a segregated place for black students and that is a residence just for black students.
Parent: Are you kidding me? Princeton requires black students to be separate? Isn’t that a violation of the Civil Rights Act?
Tour Guide: No, Sir/Ma’am Princeton does not require segregation but offers it to black students following a protest.
Parent: Is this something their parents approve of?
Tour Guide: Not sure Sir/Ma’am. I doubt it.
Parents: Oh, this is sad. Do white students, hispanic students, asian students have similar places and residences? How about short students or students with freckles? Do black students pay extra for this?
Tour Guide: Sir/Ma’am, no of course not that would be racist. I guess though if hispanic students needed such things it would be Ok but asian and white students would be racist for asking. And no they don’t pay extra, it just comes out of tuition. This is one reason why tuition keeps going up.
if you coddle the special snowflakes it simply encourages them. when I listen to most of what they say it makes no sense. that is why they do not want the media to interview them. other than repeating slogans and a couple of bizarre pre-memorized messages … like drones they really are nothing more than a group of people worked up into a frenzy. (like a cult) the administration at these schools is confused and caught of guard because they are mostly of the same belief system and now that they are personally being targeted and harassed they do not know what to do. so they just surrender. (hence they further empower the “protesters”)
and as the demands get more bizarre like the ones at UNC( much of the list it is like alice in wonderland stuff) and the behavior of those protesters in the dartmouth library gets worse(the racial harassment…real racial harassment has been ignored by thew school because the victims were non black)…the schools better step up and start pushing back or they will lose control and regular students there to become doctors and engineers and have no interest in the nonsense and want to study will leave those schools and good future students will see what happens at places like dartmouth or Missouri and not apply or will if they already have applied and get accepted turn the school down. so where will that leave these schools?
you think just because dartmouth is an ivy school that people will not transfer if they see the school is running amok and the administration does nothing to make students feel safe and instead panders to those doing the harassment) many will leave…I promise you!
but the truth is that most of the demands are not actually the goal of the leaders of these protests…to understand what they are doing just read saul alinsky rules for radicals.
Looks like these “activist” students are violating Saul Alinsky’s rule #7:
“A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.” Don’t become old news.
nerdy parent for the average protester… not the outside “advisers” it is like a drug…you can not give up the gig so easy.
the average protester does not know the rules for radicals or that they are getting used.
Thinking more about housing. Colleges these days (at least most of them) will absolutely NOT give in to a request of a student to change their housing placement because they are not happy with the race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation of their roommate. We occasionally see posts out here from students or parents who see information about a future roommate on social media, and want a change. Colleges don’t give an inch on it, nor should they.
It would be a major reversal to allow any one racial or ethnic group to insist on roommates or a housing complex devoted specifically to them. I really, really hope colleges don’t bend on this one. It is very important for ALL students to live with and interact with ALL other types of students.
Not really. Affinity housing is common at LACs. Common special interest houses include sober housing, Kosher housing, all women, all men, green housing, LGBTQ housing, and language-based housing. Tufts has an Africana House, Asian American Culture House, Jewish Culture House, Latino Culture House and Muslim Culture House.
http://ase.tufts.edu/reslife/housing/special.asp
http://www.bucknell.edu/AffinityHousing
http://www.dickinson.edu/info/20238/office_of_residence_life_and_housing/1271/special_interest_housing
I don’t think it would be coloring outside the lines to have a Black Culture House, although it would have to be open to people of all races.
intparent…segregated housing is absurd (IMO) and is creepy if you think about it.
the one place I differ with you on this is"It is very important for ALL students to live with and interact with ALL other types of students"
I actually think the core job of college is to educate you towards a career be it in science, medicine, etc… not a social building experience.(not just dealing with race,gender etc…that is for a individual student to decide to do or not do) people should meet all kinds of people in college and socialize with them, but I firmly believe that every student should have a single room with a common living area.
the double or worse triple should be a vestige of a bygone era .I do not need a loud roommate or one who wakes up really early or late or whatever. I need to do my thing on my time the way I want. I am in school to learn biochem or calculus not how to learn to live with a stranger.
p.s. do you think that hospitals should have double rooms? (new hospitals are not built that way and many older hospitals are converting them and for good reason)
D1 had a roommate for 2 years, then had her own room in a house shared with other roommates. D2 has never shared a bedroom with anyone, ever. She is a senior in college. She lives alone in a small cottage we own. I kid her that she will never be able to be married because she is so spoiled to having her own space and sole control of the TV remote. But I am just kidding.
In general, I don’t think it needs to be a given that one should have to share a bedroom with a total stranger or even a friend in order to develop normally as a person.
This is actually the norm in the Oxbridge College accommodations those I’ve known who attended had as undergrads.
As for doubles/triples, that was put into place in the past due to a combination of economic considerations along with the fact families were larger on average back then so few children…even those from the most well-off families would find it unusual to share a bedroom at home.
There was also the consideration that from WWI till the end of the Vietnam War, young males in parts of that period were liable for being called up to perform military service obligations where one would be placed in tight quarters with dozens of others in training and sometimes afterwards.
Incidentally, a double or even a triple would be considered luxurious accommodations for East Asian university students up until the late '90s.
Most of the dorms my parents or my Mainland Chinese study abroad student hosts stayed in were the size of a small American double…except they accommodated 6-8 students complete with spartan bunk beds, tiny storage closets, and a small table for all of them. Granted, the rooms were mainly meant for sleeping/hanging around due to space considerations and due to energy rationing considerations prevalent in that period. Most students studied in empty classrooms or the university library.
To some…including those in the arts world, the use of the term “primitive” is considered a negative pejorative signifying an unfavorable dismissive value judgment of the artwork/artist from the one using the term.
It’s one reason why there’s some movement even within some arts schools/Profs/artists/ and art student communities to moving away from using that term according to friends who are art students/art curators/or artists in their own right.
So colleges want diversity on campus to promote interactions among all ethnicities but then have Africa House, Muslim House, Asia House, etc. so that those groups can self segregate and not interact with others. Yeah, makes sense.
It would be more meaningful to hear from someone actually IN the art world as to how the word primitive is used and any controversies, versus the supposed " friends in the art world,"
All those cultural affinity houses on most campuses I know of are open to all students who express a serious interest and demonstrate an intent to be respectful of the cultures concerned and community members with greater experiences being a part of or studying those cultures in some depth.
Enter Nissy Aya onto Google, and stories about her complaints are the first things that shows up.
Nissy, on behalf of employers everywhere, I thank you. Most of the time dysfunctional behavior is hidden and only revealed after the hiring decision has been made. You have done everyone a favor by revealing it in advance.
My experience is that often those “houses” are not true housing, but are gathering places. Even when they are housing, students studying those areas academically (languages, for example) are welcome to visit or live there. My college roommate, who was Caucasian, used to hang out at the Japanese house in campus. And gender neutral housing is open to anyone.
Affinity or themed housing is no big deal. We even have entire colleges that are affinity – mens, womens, HBCs. Honor dorm, engineering dorm, athlete dorm, substance free dorm, French dorm, frat house, sorority house, etc.
My guess is that few students though would choose the AA dorm. Similar to how the Univ of Colorado set up a gun dorm that no one signed up for.
But it is fun to throw a tantrum and have someone give you something in return. Even if you really don’t want what you are asking for.
Columbia Nissy needs to man up. An Ivy League college (while not perfect) is just about the least racist place she’s ever going to encounter in the U.S. Or the world. The aggressions she’ll find there are very micro.
Sheesh!!!
At D’s college, protesters asked for specific Afr Am and Hispanic housing (which to my knowledge they didn’t get). I totally get some kind of center / gathering place. I’m not as comfortable with the idea of a specific dorm. I just want to note that this is a college that, 40 or so years ago, roomed all the Jewish students together because some of the WASPier students wouldn’t have wanted to room with them. Is that any better?
There is a major difference between choices driven by the administration and/or the dominant majority and ones driven by the minority/marginalized group.
Moreover, unlike in the former examples…the cultural affinity dorms are open to all students who express an interest and demonstrate they can be open to and respectful of the culture and community…especially with students with greater lived experiences or those who studied the culture in some depth.
No one is actively barred or discouraged from selecting the house unless they’ve demonstrated attitudes which indicate disrespectful or bigoted attitudes towards the particular cultural or academic field* of the house concerned.