I so agree with @exacademic It is the Associate master who escalated the issue. The original email was nothing but reminding students to be mindful of others in dressing up for Halloween. It is giving guidance to young students, in no way inhibiting free speech. She made it out to be oppressing freedom of speech. She is entitled to her opinion as an individual but she is in a position to provide everyone in her RC with a “safe” place. It’s their “home”. She clearly didn’t think it through how some of her residents will be affected by her email. It looks to me she doesn’t qualify to be in charge of caring for students.
Some colleges are getting exactly what they deserve. They have been feeding this nonsense for the past several decades.
It is very sad to see such hypersensitive and irrational kids in college. I fear for them in adulthood.
Don’t you think what was posted by JohhnyO could also be true in general about most elite colleges and even our “(sort of) upper class” society as a whole? It just happens that Yale happens to be located in an area where there is a bigger “contrast” between those who have and those who have not, unlike some other elite colleges are at.This does not mean that it should share more of the “blame”. It is likely that volunteerism could be more active there, so it is not that everyone there just enjoys 4 years of “country club” life while they are there (as compared to comparable colleges.)
To JohhnyO’s credit, he is likely not one of those who were born with a “silver foot” in his mouth, and likely does not march in chorus toward the Wall Street, like up to 40% of Ivy leaguers may do.
I love all the would-be social scientists and the putative thoughts on how people of color should respond and the dictates that society requires upon their population. Ever live in the 4th ward? How about East Harlem? Greenwood district in Tulsa? Boyle Heights, LA? It would be naive to think the America they live in, is the same in which many populations of color reside.
For example, the unrest of U Missouri has a direct nexus to the public policy of penalizing the black population for basically a series of minor offenses. It’s punitive, provincial and parochial–and it antagonizes the community on a generational basis. See: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-02-09/cities-dig-for-profit-by-penalizing-the-poor. Point is, even with the great privilege of attending one of the worlds great universities, no person, wants to be treated as a second rate person…
A Harvard Law student explains: http://hlrecord.org/2015/11/fascism-at-yale/.
This thread moves fast! Just catching up and responding to @jonri’s post# 382. As has been mentioned earlier in this thread, this is the first year that Christakis has been Silliman’s Master (and he just arrived on campus in 2013, and teaches a 100 level sociology class, so might have known a few by name as former students from his class). But yes, he did have to learn 450+ names since Aug. 31, when he sent out his first letter to Silliman residents (see posts 148-9).
Is it really that hard to understand what “safe” means in this case? To be welcomed and be teeated like everybody else, not be remind of their difference? Be one of them and don’t have to look away or protest something they find offensive? If you have to fight for basic decency, it’s not safe.
I am with Cf on this, how did the master not know her name if she is a master’s aide? When I used to teach at a college, every semester I met about 100 students. An hour every other day. I learned their names within the month classes started. Masters live with their students.
In the video, he indicates that he has always had a hard time learning names. As one with a similar experience, I can understand that. Bet he never forgets her name now…
statement to the “Yale community” by the Yale president, Peter Salovey, and the college dean, Jonathan Holloway, affirmed “Yale’s bedrock principle of the freedom to speak and be heard, without fear of intimidation, threats, or harm.” At the same time, they promised that by Thanksgiving they would announce “further actions to improve the climate on campus and support and enhance diversity.”
The statement came after days of student and faculty protests against what was portrayed as an undercurrent of racial hostility at Yale, including a debate over whether the university should be policing culturally insensitive Halloween costumes and in an allegation that a fraternity member had said a party was for “white girls only.”
Not the same student. The one who complains he doesn’t know her name is Malaika (sp?). The student who was a master’s aide and who yelled at him at the end of the confrontation is Jerelyn Luther.
@Sue22: “…short, spiked green hair, heavy black makeup, (fake) tattoos and a leather jacket. My kids thought it was hysterical and I surprised a few friends, but I can envision someone thinking I was making fun of butch women.”
The “butch” women in my area look NOTHING like that.
“love all the would-be social scientists and the putative thoughts on how people of color should respond and the dictates that society requires upon their population. Ever live in the 4th ward? How about East Harlem? Greenwood district in Tulsa? Boyle Heights, LA? It would be naive to think the America they live in, is the same in which many populations of color reside.”
Oh, is there one prescribed way all people of color should think, or do think? And is it more “authentic” to be a black person from the places you listed, versus, say, the black student from a middle or upper middle class suburb?
I think it’s racist to suggest that all members of a certain race either have or should have the same opinion about any given topic.
"@Sue22: “…short, spiked green hair, heavy black makeup, (fake) tattoos and a leather jacket. My kids thought it was hysterical and I surprised a few friends, but I can envision someone thinking I was making fun of butch women.”
The “butch” women in my area look NOTHING like that."
Maybe the “butch” women in your area have re-appropriated straight-woman culture. Or maybe they were so oppressed by the patriarchy they had no choice but to forego their culture and blend in by parroting straight women.
Or maybe people are individuals who make their own clothing choices as they see fit.
Not so much the makeup or the color in my hair, but there was definitely a tough, more gender-neutral vibe that fit a stereotype of a butch lesbian, particularly with my very short hair. The rest was more goth. Of course gay women come in many types just like straight women. My point was really that most any costume is of a type or character and it would be very easy for many costumes the wearer sees as innocuous to be seen as someone else as problematic. The question is whether that’s a sign of sensitivity to social injustice or simple oversensitivity.
Nope, the black fella in the suburbs gets just as much thrown his way, folks are just more polite and coy about it. Racism cannot be operated at its core, if it is not simultaneously occupying power and all of its attendant social structures, to which, blacks control very little. So, while I can be discriminatory, I find it rather difficult how I can be racist?
In any event, the outrage and frustration are real whether you live in Fairfield, CT (e.g. the young black Yalie in the video) or if you are from Passiac, NJ. That said, statistically, and these are nominal figures, most blacks live in dense urban areas, so my point was not to be authentic, but rather accurate–huge difference-see:http://www-siepr.stanford.edu/workp/swp00007.pdf
How about the “black fellas” who disagree with you @boolahi, do their opinions count or do you just consider them ill informed about history?
Actually, even upper/upper-middle class Black students are often treated very differently even in their suburban hometowns and in the course of their daily lives. One older college Black classmate who was a double degree viola/chemistry major recounted being stopped countless times in his upper/upper-middle class near all-White suburb by police because neighbors or White town residents felt he was suspicious on account of his race.
This was both on foot and became worse when he received a BMW as a graduation present from his well-off professional parents. This was only confirmed when some of the LEOs stopping him while DWB openly questioned how he could have afforded such a fancy car if he wasn’t dealing drugs or something along those lines. Did I mention he usually dresses in a suit and tie due to personal inclinations and because of recital requirements as a double-degree student in the college and the conservatory?
And this racial profiling aspect of his life followed him into grad school when he went off to H for a Phd in a subfield of Chemistry. While he was giving me a tour of his area of campus including the Chem labs, I saw him stopped by HUPD several times for ID.
Very disturbing and irregular considering I as an Asian-American had never been stopped once to be asked for my ID on that very same campus despite the fact I wasn’t a student for most of those visits. However, it was clear that as with White students, I seem like I “fit in” more than he did as a Black man despite the fact he was the actual Harvard PhD student and I wasn’t.
It also didn’t help that around the same time period (early '00s), a group of Black Harvard undergrads gathering together to enjoy an afternoon on their House’s quad had the police called on them by other Harvard students because “they looked suspicious” which with other incidents prompted much outrage on campus and eventually prompted senior HUPD officials to admit they need to do better regarding avoiding profiling Black and other URM students on campus.
Well, I’m sure the whites in Passaic and Fairfield are all identical.
Okay, is your friend entitled to his own opinion on this topic or does he get written off as ignorant somehow if he doesn’t?
Again talking in what ifs and suppositions, is there an actual situation you are making reference to, or is this a mere hypothetical? And again, my point was not the reaction of these communities, but the curation and instruction of these communities, by folks who have probably never even stepped into these neighborhoods, regarding how they should act this way or the other…