<p>"At the same time, they are not necessarily "deeply disturbed" as you put it, because of their confidence that exemplary person-to-person conduct can serve as an inspiration to others who may not be so inclined."</p>
<p>Thank you for this clarification.</p>
<p>swatparent:</p>
<p>Did she just say that the Williams students are not disturbed by the racism and anti-semitism on their campus?</p>
<p>I really vowed not to post again on this thread, but here it goes. I think what onemoremom had in mind is this.</p>
<p>Of course all people of good conscious descry bigotry in any form. This is all Williams students onemoremom knows (and all I know for that matter.)</p>
<p>However, until we live in a perfect world, and as long as we are human that will be forever, since our world is fallen by religious and secular standards, many of us know that reprehensible behavior will occur.</p>
<p>Some will choose to be outraged; some will be sad. Some will understand that it's just the human race up to its old tricks. Sigh.</p>
<p>How to address this sad state of affairs? Some will think intervention appropriate, some will think a loud hue and cry appropriate and others will quietly go about their right behavior as the most fitting antidote.</p>
<p>There are religious, political, spiritual, sociological, mythical, and psychological evidence that all these responses are appropriate and effective. People of good will can disagree.</p>
<p>Onemoremom: I am sorry to put words in your mouth, by this is what I take your meaning to be.</p>
<p>interesteddad: I think what these Williams parents are saying is that lots of people ignore rascism, antisemitism and antigay bigotry and that is as good as it gets for these people. They appear to think that this is acceptable because (sigh and throw up hands) this is human nature. This may be how some people are, but for the world to progress beyond these despicable behaviors I personally feel that these behaviors have to be pointed out and decried. This also in my opinion needs to be done by campus leadership, which includes administrators, student leaders, etc. It also needs to be done by example, which would mean that a college president goes very far in making groups feel welcome and supported.</p>
<p>Now what frightens me the most is that these are COLLEGE STUDENTS who are supposed to be at the height of their idealism who are not banding together en masse and speaking out. </p>
<p>I realize that others on the outside would like to say that Swarthmore is no different, but personally everything that I have seen there and what I have heard from my child points to a different ethic at Swarthmore. That would be one that really tries to reach out to all groups and make them welcome, which then provides a valuable experience for life.</p>
<p>swatparent:</p>
<p>Did she just say that Williams students simply ignore racist and anti-semitic attacks as an inevitable part of college life?</p>
<p>What kind of college is that, where racist and anti-semitic attacks on campus are viewed as inevitable?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Now what frightens me the most is that these are COLLEGE STUDENTS who are supposed to be at the height of their idealism who are not banding together en masse and speaking out.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Makes you wonder how much they will be willing to "speak out" when they become the business, educational, and government leaders of tomorrow, doesn't it?</p>
<p>"swatparent:</p>
<p>Did she just say that Williams students simply ignore racist and anti-semitic attacks as an inevitable part of college life?"</p>
<p>interesteddad: I think we just cross posted, but the short answer is yes.</p>
<p>"Makes you wonder how much they will be willing to "speak out" when they become the business, educational, and government leaders of tomorrow, doesn't it?"</p>
<p>They are not required to do this. They do not have to "speak out" to be successful in those fields unless it will make them more money, is required by law or gets them more votes.</p>
<p>Stunning (but not surprising) hubris on the part of Swarthmore parents. So smug, self-assured, and deceitful -- keep grinding that organ, keep grinding. We wouldn't expect any less (or more).</p>
<p>"There are much better examples of bitter African American op-ed writers at Swarthmore in recent years. It's kind of a literary genre."</p>
<p>It appears that the problem is so ingrained in the institutional psyche that it is now accepted and any response is of the "shoot the messenger" variety. Sounds like it could be a lot more troubling that a couple of drunked outbursts?</p>
<p>"It appears that the problem is so ingrained in the institutional psyche that it is now accepted and any response is of the "shoot the messenger" variety. Sounds like it could be a lot more troubling that a couple of drunked outbursts?"</p>
<p>Please come up with these examples, as you are assuming these writers that I have never personally seen in reviewing Swat publications, and you must have knowledge of them.</p>
<p>Are you looking to say that Swarthmore has problems with rascism and antisemitism equal to some other schools? If so, this just is not true. Nothing that is published in this regard substantiates this contention.</p>
<p>Instead of trying to make this a petty back and forth, how about just agreeing that working for social justice is important for all ages and institutions?</p>
<p>"Please come up with these examples, as you are assuming these writers that I have never personally seen in reviewing Swat publications, and you must have knowledge of them."</p>
<p>I was referring to this weeks Phoenix post 151. Interesteddad provided the comment regarding "bitter" African American students being so prevalent at Swat, for many years. I wonder why they are so angry? and why the source of their "bitterness" is common place and institutionally accepted?</p>
<p>I have no idea what articles he was referring to, and think that before a "genre" is declared it would be worthwhile to have several examples. Then it could be established that there is, in fact, a "genre."</p>
<p>
[quote]
Interesteddad provided the comment regarding "bitter" African American students being so prevalent at Swat, for many years.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I didn't say anything even remotely like that. Quite the contrary, there is little evidence to suggest bitterness on the part of Swarthmore African American students, whatsoever.</p>
<p>I was refering to one rather notorious columnist in the Phoenix who graduated two years ago after writing a weekly column on the horrors of white liberals and yadda, yadda, yadda. Quite a prolific writer indeed.</p>
<p>There is an annual award given at Swarthmore to the best African American writer in the graduating class -- an editorial writer, a fiction writer, whatever. The award is voted on by the African American students association. They "commented" on the work of this highly-visible Phoenix editorial writer by, for the first time, choosing not to give the award to anyone that year...</p>
<p>BTW, we should be very clear. The complaint in the Phoenix article last week was that the "white liberals" at Swarthmore didn't do enough to celebrate Black History Month.</p>
<p>The complaint at the other school was that a student celebrated black history month by scribbling the N-WORD racial slur on an Obama poster on the door of an African American student.</p>
<p>So, let's not get carried away with comparisons here.</p>
<p>"working for social justice is important for all ages and institutions"</p>
<p>Yet at the same time you feel strongly that living in a socially just way ("working for social justice" at the most basic and elemental level) isn't good enough for/acceptable to you. How astoundingly judgmental and duplicitous.</p>
<p>"Yet at the same time you feel strongly that living in a socially just way ("working for social justice" at the most basic and elemental level) isn't good enough for/acceptable to you. How astoundingly judgmental and duplicitous."</p>
<p>I have no idea what you are speaking about. Please clarify.</p>
<p>"There are much better examples of bitter African American op-ed writers at Swarthmore in recent years. It's kind of a literary genre."</p>
<p>Let's examine this sentence. "There are much better examples", examples is plural, much better implies there are many that are not as good and some that are better, "bitter African American op-ed writers" again plural and they are all bitter, "at Swathmore in resent years" so over a period of years, "It's kind of a literary genre", sufficient numbers and authors to comprise a genre. Doesn't sound like one lone example to me. An while one author may have left 2 years ago who felt the same, this piece was in this weeks paper.</p>
<p>"I think what these Williams parents are saying is that lots of people ignore rascism, antisemitism and antigay bigotry and that is as good as it gets for these people." and</p>
<p>"Now what frightens me the most is that these are COLLEGE STUDENTS who are supposed to be at the height of their idealism who are not banding together en masse and speaking out. "</p>
<p>"these Williams parents" did not state this at all -- on the contrary, "these Williams parents" have pointed out to you that the campus has engaged in extensive discourse about these few incidents in several venues: WSO (Williams Students Online, the student discussion board), the Record (the independent student newspaper), ephblog (an off-campus discussion forum maintained by alums), and in the student-formed group Stand with Us (if you had bothered to read the Amherst links you would have seen this group mentioned, along with the Amherst students' "Be Heard" group). </p>
<p>Your two comments, quoted above, closely followed these comments of mine: "The Williams students I know of course do not condone disrespectful expressions of anti-Semitism or racism, being themselves not racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, mysogynistic, etc., etc., but by the way they live their lives day in and day out they make it very clear where they stand. At the same time, they are not necessarily "deeply disturbed" as you put it, because of their confidence that exemplary person-to-person conduct can serve as an inspiration to others who may not be so inclined."</p>
<p>This is what is meant by living honorably, on a day-to-day basis, in a "socially just" way.</p>
<p>Thanks for the explanation. I hope that their honorable lives will serve as examples for the students who scribble the "N-word" on Obama posters.</p>