Wait – I thought you were a “transgender black woman.”
Rightly or wrongly, institutions protect themselves first and foremost. There is a reason people are reluctant to be whistleblowers, and employees who are too vocal about institutional issues “fail to thrive” or are forced out. There are consequences to rocking the boat. Employers or admissions officers – nobody wants to intentionally bring on someone who will cause unrest within the institution. It is naive to think that they will. 20 year olds don’t really get that yet.
Will it be formally incorporated into admissions processes this year? I would guess not. Will it be on individual admissions officers’ minds as they read files? I am sure it will.
And thank goodness for that, maybe kids who will actually appreciate the value of the education they’ll be receiving will be accepted instead.
Well, protecting the institution isn’t always all it is cracked up to be. Catholic Church, anyone? And I am in support of protesters where racism is systemic on campus – as I believe it is at Mizzou, for example. I am just not in support of what I think are copy-cat protesters who are complaining about symbolism.
Well, the topics of many of these protests across US campuses don’t really inspire much confidence…demonstrations about Halloween costumes and Wilson murals are a bit ludicrous. And on another note, the methods used by the protesters, like trespassing on private property (sorry, ‘Occupying a non-safe space’), blocking reporters, and yelling/swearing at administrators also don’t inspire confidence in the protesters being reasonable people.
Personally, I think the correct response from Princeton’s administrators would have been a total refusal to engage in dialogue until the protesters complied with university rules and regulations. I’m sure that at Princeton, of all places, it isn’t very difficult to write a thoughtful letter to the administration, organize an event or debate, or draft a petition to be signed by faculty and students.
“There is a major difference between choices driven by the administration and/or the dominant majority and ones driven by the minority/marginalized group.”
So it’s ok for a black student to refuse to be roomed with anyone but another black student, but it’s not ok for a white student to do the same?
“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”
Ah. But if you aren’t actually FROM that culture, isn’t participating in their traditions a firm of cultural re appropriation? You can only watch, it seems. There are different rules regarding who can play in a mariachi band wearing traditional mariachi costumes.
trollicus read saul alinsky…rules for radicals… and you will better understand what is happening.
those demands are just smoke and mirrors…and the leaders (help from the outside) are using the clueless naive students as pawns(the students are naive to put it nicely…talk to them and you will be puzzled with what they have to say)
woodrow wilson and halloween outfits have zero to do with what is really happening.
@zobroward why dont you tell all of us what is “really happening” I am not sure what certain of the posters want. Do they want certain races of people to be vetted for political activity? Maybe they could also be screened by the FBI. It sounds like Joe McCarthy is alive and well
joe mcacrthy is a live and well and he is now a social justice/black lives matter “protester” trying to silence , intimate and harass everyone in their path from…fellow students to presidents of schools…with bizarre demands and flimsy “incidents” as what they are upset about.
I think your use of mc mcarty is a bad choice considering in the 21st century those suppressing free speech, thought and expression all are socialist/Marxist types. so yeah bad choice.
the rest of your post (like many of your others)…is over the top, not connected to what I or anyone else said or grounded in reality. do you just go for shock value or is it a comprehension issue?
I am still waiting for you to tell us what is happening? You may think that my posts are “over the top” because I take the opposite view I see the protests as a healthy exercise in free speech. There has been too much racism that has gone on in many of the campuses and I applaud the attempts to stop it. I guess it is much easier to tell me that my posts are “not grounded in reality” or make other personal attacks than address the issues
when you say stuff like “Do they want certain races of people to be vetted for political activity? Maybe they could also be screened by the FBI.” it is absurd and nobody said that …not even remotely. how do you come up with this stuff??
. and do you support racial harassment of non black students in the library at dartmouth? that is real racial intimidation! and of course the school will do nothing because they are afraid to offended the very people making the school a hard place to study. watch the video if you want to see real racial harassment and behavior that belongs nowhere in our society and certainly not at an ivy league school. but by coddling those protesters dartmouth empowers them !
Let me try again I am still waiting for you to tell us what is really happening. Please tell us
“maybe they could also be screened by the FBI” . You are correct that is absurd. It was meant to be absurd and to serve as a scary example as some of the posters seem to imply that blacks need extra screening. Review post 292 and 294
Here’s another possible reason to have issues with President Woodrow Wilson.
Granted, this issue is one only students whose exposure to US history went well beyond what’s typically covered in US K-12 and sometimes even intro US history survey courses in colleges…especially ones geared for non-majors fulfilling distribution requirements would be aware of:
http://www.blackliberationcollective.org/our-demands/
This should probably have its own thread.
The response to blackliberationcollective.org should be: “We, the public, demand you stop acting like idiots.”
@hebegebe “we the public demand that you stop acting like idiots” that sounds like a careful well thought out proposal to the problems of racism in america I think you would be well served by addressing the issues in a more careful analytical fashion. Comments like the one above just make the other side more entrenched in their beliefs and create more problems than solutions
They “demand” free tuition for all Black and indigenuous students? Really? Does that include free tuition for Malia and Sasha Obama, or Ben Carson’s children / grandchildren?
And they are so offended by the presence of residence halls, etc. that are named after separatists – because separatism is bad, amirite? – that they “demand” separate spaces for themselves to handle their hurt?
Get a grip.
@Pizzagirl: They call it "free"tuition, but what they really mean (whether or not they know it) is cross-subsidized tuition, where their fellow classmates pick up the tab. I’m sure that line item will do wonders for race relations.
@whatisyourrequest:
"But I believe that it’s naive to think that the zeitgeist will not affect admissions, at least this year. Universities care foremost about their reputation, ranking, and endowment. Negative media attention can clearly affect all.
Personally, the recent news has strongly influenced my opinions regarding options for my kid. "
I, too, am concerned about the effect the forms of protest and the tone of the overall speech that has made it into the media, and grant that the university admissions process can indeed be impacted - basic human response in consideration of the climate on the campuses around the nation will play a hand the recipe, if you will, for the next round of young people who enter these schools over the coming years.
At Princeton such consideration of how they have been building community was underway almost all of this and last year. There was already thought, examination and re-examination, rededication and exploration (sorry about the allitera---- there!) of whethe the campus climate was one that made it difficult or even harsh for some individuals and groups to take full part in the Princeton experience. Campus climate as a sort of ‘neutral’ and organic happening was already being looked at as being not quite so.
For that reason, while I am concerned about the impact of today’s heated state, I am not one who finds it necessary to
“steer away from universities that cannot ensure respectful for a for polite debates that permit all viewpoints to be heard and appreciated, concerning controversial issues.”
I know that these moments will pass, but also consider that the falsity of the neutral campus will be the way that the pendulum once again swings. That was never a true state of being for the many students, across many different interests and identities, at many of these campuses.
Those of my children who choose to submit applications to any of the campuses that have been in the news of late will have my full support, as it is my belief that their contributions, perceptions and perspectives, could bring about different approaches, and that in order to affect such change, they would have to be present and active to do so.
Re: “Black students and Black faculty to be reflected by the national percentage of Black folk in the country.”
So, the use of quota to a certain extent is good? Great, if everybody agrees this is the way to go, this will help silence the another group, Asian Americans,. One stone two birds.
Texas has tried this: If a student is ranked at the top X percents of his/her graduating class in high school, s/he is entitled to attend the flagship college. The differences in the competitiveness of different high schools do not matter.
Is this the better way?
Another experiment the state down south has tried: As long as the student’s qualification has passed a certain threshold, they are selected by some lottery system so that the students who are not as academic capable still have the equal chance to enter some “honor” program.
The “percentage” problem is resolved as long as we make sure that the high schools are segregated. But some students are still not happy in the end when they arrive at the campus – how come other students could be graduated from some majors with a more “promising” career in 4 or even less years and I need to take tons of remedial classes for multiple years even before I am allowed to take a “real” college class?! It is not fair! /sarcastic.