I’m wondering if there are any Taft parents (or students) who can speak to what’s really going on there and how the community is dealing with this. My kid has a couple of URM friends at Taft, and they have been pretty upset about it. A number of Taft alumni also signed a letter to the administration and trustees which made it sound like this is not an anomaly. But we all are aware of isolated incidents where the culture of a school has then been misrepresented by the press, so… just looking for some current parents’ take on this.
“Go back to Africa!” written on a kid’s door? That is awful.
Have they found the person responsible?
Hopefully not just the URM students are pretty upset about it…
Everyone at Taft is upset about it ( all the alums , too ) because it’s deeply troubling and offensive and it reflects badly on everyone… it’s an outrage and whoever did this should be expelled immediately.
The last paragraph in the article should tell everyone that Taft has zero tolerance and they’re taking this very seriously:
" Watertown police said the school made them aware of the situation, and if it identifies the person or people responsible and the students would like to press charges this could then become a criminal case. "
For people who haven’t been around BS that long… that’s a welcome departure from the DOS finding the person or people responsible and expelling them. The involvement of the Watertown Police Department sends a clear signal that that this type of behavior is not only unacceptable but there are clear and very serious consequences beyond expulsion.
That’s really awful. I haven’t seen anything in local papers about it and am kind of surprised, given that they reported it to the police. That does seem like a big step for a BS and a very appropriate one.
This incident sounds so much like the incident at the Air Force Academy last November. Here is what has been reported at Taft:
Here is what was reported at the Air Force Academy:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/us/air-force-academy-racist.html
It was actually at the Air Force Preparatory Academy - a special 1-year program designed to prepare those who otherwise can’t qualify for the “real” Academy.
People should be aware that there have been many, many hoaxes over the years along these lines. (One of the most egregious was the Duke lacrosse scandal.) Here is a smattering from 2017: https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/40361/
If it turns out that the student at Taft did this himself would people here be so quick to call for expulsion?
@SatchelSF you forgot about the massive hoax perpetrated by the girl at UVA with Rolling Stone as the willing participant
Apparently, there were several incidents, not just that one message on the student’s door. I really don’t understand why anyone would minimize this. It is awful.
No one is minimizing it: but much like the many false sexual assaults where kids lives are ruined because a school decides someone is guilty without any legitimate investigation or evidence perhaps the same thing should happen here. More schools would do better to wash their hands of investigating things that they are not capable of and simply informing the police. Let the police do their job.
(@Center: You are forgetting all the REAL sexual assaults where kids’ lives are ruined because someone was too lazy to teach their boys to make sure their partner consents to every step… White boys rarely get more than a slap on the wrist. Brock Turner was seen by two witnesses, raping an UNCONSCIOUS woman. A black or Hispanic man would be jailed for decades…)
I’m not trying to minimize it. If it happened. It’s just that these incidents are often hoaxes. This website does a nice job collecting examples, and note how often there are no significant consequences for those who falsely stage racist incidents: www.fakehatecrimes.org. The very recent hoax involving a black navy sailor (#331 on that list) is particularly instructive as to lack of consequences.
Anyone from the Taft community care to add some information here? This happened over six weeks ago. Any suspects identified? Also, what are these “other incidents”? Sorry, but I am just not willing to believe unverified claims. I’ve just seen too much in my life.
@CaliMex I am not forgetting REAL sexual assaults. The many false accusations (DUKE, UVA, PEA-John Doe, Owen Labrie-- revenge, politically motivated or otherwise ) HURT real sexual assault issues.
Brock Turner was given a joke of a sentence because of your same rationale: Poor boy shouldn’t have to suffer “unfairly”.
I know personally a child who went through something like this. The struggle is real and it doesn’t always make the news. It’s awful. And even if, (as a couple of people are trying to say) this particular incident didn’t happen — there are many, many times that it actually does. “Fake” racist incidents are more likely to occur in the opposite direction from what I’ve seen, with Caucasians “claiming” harm or injury, usually by a mysterious person of color.
“The involvement of the Watertown Police Department sends a clear signal that that this type of behavior is not only unacceptable but there are clear and very serious consequences beyond expulsion.”
Glad it is going to the police but I’m pretty sure it is required reporting as a hate crime.
I always assume that when there is a complaint about a racist incident or crime, it is normally a truthful complaint. I’m sure people are aware of the incident involving the Deerfield grad who attends Cornell:
http://cornellsun.com/2018/03/05/cornell-student-could-be-deported-if-convicted-of-hate-crime/
Not always though…
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/scarborough-hijab-attack-1.4487716
Contrary to what some posters above have implied, if this article is to be believed then it looks like Taft administration had to be dragged kicking and screaming into calling the police:
It looks like Ms. Porter tried to obstruct the hallway (“50+ student participants”) with the protest (were classes disrupted, too?), and skipped her classes, and encouraged others to do so (“I didn’t even let my teachers know what I was doing and I was not penalized”).
Finally, Taft relented:
http://thevigornia.com/761/features/taft-sits-down-for-racism/
Honestly, Taft doesn’t sound like a good environment all around. No surprise that the administration was reluctant to get the police involved. Just looking at the statute quickly, I think the actions might not even be criminal (depends very much on whether writing on a bulletin board designed to be written upon is “defacing” within the statute - probably - and whether the board constitutes property of the student - doubtful), and if so they are likely 3rd degree misdemeanors at most. Even if the actions were clearly criminal, all these boarding schools will attempt to hush these sorts of things up, as we have seen countless times in sex harassment cases. The Taft administration might also have suspected that it was a hoax.
@MtnTrailX you know what they say about assuming…
@Center for sure, that’s why I uploaded the two threads, but the whole world goes around based upon assumptions, which we need to reasonably prove, test and scrutinize. Justice is meted out based upon assumptions, either “preponderance of the evidence” or “beyond a reasonable doubt”. Not 100%, but using scrutinized assumptions. 