That’s what it looks like to me. And evidently his friend Christakis did nothing to stop him. Christakis is letting students nominally under his care to be publicly shamed for minor transgressions. Come on, a screaming argument? Are there no other screaming arguments at Yale?
I have confidence that Yale will be just fine, regardless of the outcome for the Cs. Considering that there was no violence, just heated and sometimes rude confrontation, I don’t see any long term negativity for the university. The president and administration are actively engaged in mediating the situation. I’m more concerned about the young woman who is now being threatened.
UC Davis recovered quickly after the spraying of tear gas on students during a sit-in a couple of years ago. Yale will survive this.
The country, on the other hand, has a lot of work to do.
@exacademic: It is quite common, at least in legal circles, to talk about extra protection for offensive speech because that is the only speech that needs protection. No one objects to the inoffensive stuff. Further, I don’t think your statements are actually in conflict. We must especially protect hurtful speech because otherwise free speech means nothing.
I am also not sure I agree that the students support the university. It seems to me that they want to go further than simply recommending people do not wear certain costumes and instead, e.g., that those holding positions of which the students disapprove lose their jobs. They are more on the side of the university than EC, certainly, but it seems to me they want more.
I do agree that EC disagrees with the university.
RE: #615 That is one of the things Christakis said to the students: that he believed in many of the same things they did and had stood up for unpopular positions in the past.
If the video showed Christakis screaming and cursing at the students, would everyone be as worried about whether or not this was a private "backyard: or would all be calling for him to be fired?
That being said, taking the video may have been an insurance policy for NC, but posting it was not probably not necessary given the degree of backlash against this student. I must be really sheltered as I can’t believe some of the articles and comments. Blatant racism and sexism. Much more objectionable than wearing a Geisha costume to a Halloween party.
I tell my kids all the time, and even my husband who has a public job, to remember that everyone has a phone and is filming or photographing ALL THE TIME, so always make sure their demeanor and actions will stand up to viral scrutiny. If not, change it immediately.
But you can’t know where the line is drawn. A poster in a thread in the Café posted about how her husband was taken aside and schooled about racism because he respectfully called another man “sir” in the workplace. Most people don’t find that offensive, but some do. There is a commentator on TV who claims that the term “hard worker” is racist, and most people using that term would never intend to give offense. So in this day and age, there is no speech or action that couldn’t/wouldn’t be offensive to someone.
“Sir” and “hard worker” ? Now I am hopelessly lost. I must be offending people daily and not knowing it.
Yep. The kind of hate that many students of color deal with often in their everyday lives. I don’t think it’s being sheltered as much as living in a different universe. This is why I think the Cs displayed being out of touch with the real issues, and why the university was completely reasonable in suggesting that students give some thought to the sensitivities of their fellow students.
However, one issue in question is whether the college courtyard in question is a public space where reasonable expectation of privacy is expected or not.
If it is the former, the advice above may be prudent…but is irrelevant as to determining the wrongfulness of the one posting the film and NC in his role at the college for facilitating him in doing so.
Only by degree due to how the geisha has long been appropriated and used in Western/US mass media and popular perception to negatively stereotype Japanese/Asian-Americans over the last century.
Similarly, it’s the same reason why college fraternities holding “Gansta/Thug” or “Conquistabros and Navajo” theme parties* are problematic due to the way they have been used in US mass media and mainstream popular culture to negatively stereotype the respective targeted minority groups.
- A party a group of Harvard frat brothers thought was a good idea in 2010 until outrage from Native-Americans and sympathetic allies showed it wasn't as such.
I dont see how the email was insensitive. Think before you do is what i try to instill in my children but i dont control every aspect of their life and as they mature you control even less. I dont think college is just about education in terms of books but transitioning to adulthood where you learn failure on your own, how to deal with others unlike you and learn to think for yourself and make decisions. Hatred or dislike or discord happens across race lines and within. Hence not everyone from each subgroup will be offended by the same thing as we all have individual experiences growing up in different socioeconomic backgrounds, cultures and what not. The only way to potentially not insult another student is to outright ban halloween costumes. As a free country as much as we may abhor certain things we have to put up with it whereby feelings can get hurt. Does that make something right? No. Never was it said for someone to wear a costume to ridicule others. If she had said that it would be a different story but that is not what happened. However what happened is her viewpoint which was not a tactic of intimidation but one of an expressed viewpoint has been met with not just disagreement which is completely fair but with intimidation. That is where free speech becomes no longer free. If this husband and wife get ousted from Yale free speech was abandonned for mob rule. The master never suggested the female student who cussed him out even get reprimanded for her behavior while she wants him outsted. Who is attempting to shut down free speech? Him or her? There is a punishment threatened for his thoughts but none for her. Its becoming more rampant to lose your job nowadays for a personal opinion or belief. This swelches free speech and makes those with dissenting views keep their mouthes closed. When people become afraid to voice opinions a country and its people are no longer free. I feel as though more and more people are keeping their opinions to themselves out of fear of reprisal. And its not just this but in society in general.
. Not a Yalie, but Harvard houses are quite similar. Some (notably Pforzheimer where Christakis was Master at Harvard) have no real semi-private areas, some have courtyards that are completely enclosed and not visible to the public at all, and many have courtyards that are separated from the public by metal fences. Even when I was at Harvard the gated courtyards were not open to the public. Definitely akin to a backyard.
See? No way to avoid giving that offense. Now if someone had a specific reason for being bothered and they told you politely (as the poster’s husband’s co-worker did), then you would understand and never do that again. But you can’t proactively know and no one can seriously say that offensive speech should always be known to others without discussion.
That’s very true, but another risk is that if people assume they will be severely penalized for unintentional missteps that everyone makes from time to time, they will avoid members of groups who are different and where they don’t know the unspoken rules, and segregate society even further. Although I wonder if there aren’t some folks benefiting from the unrest.
Uh, “real life” takes place in small towns and rural areas, also. I’m not familiar with the physical setup at Middlebury, but Dartmouth is integrated with a town that is on the big side for the Upper Valley, and Williams has a public highway running right through the middle of it. Both are wide open to the public. No gated courtyards.
And so now it is NC’s actual fault that some sicko(s) threaten the young woman? Really?? It is at least as likely that sickos would threaten HIM. Has that happened, I wonder?
@zoosermom, what an interesting observation:
I think that is a valid concern. We all seek out “safe spaces” in our lives; if we feel that we do not fit in well with a group because we don’t know the rules, then we will organically segregate. We can try to learn the rules and overcome this, but when words like “sir” and “hardworking” become part of the rules, it becomes too difficult to overcome and we retreat to our safe spaces.
To me moonchild, there is a difference between the hatred I saw thrown at the young woman who yelled in the video and the wearing of a costume that could be considered offensive by only a few. My statement of being sheltered was that I don’t typically read the kind of website or chats that pop in a quick google search on this event. I am not sheltered from racism and definitely not from sexism in my world, but it is generally of the milder kind. But none of us who don’t inhabit that skin have any real idea what it is like.
There is some grey area, however, as I don’t believe that a lot of things called out as micro-aggression would be considered offensive by most. While wrong-footed for an RC master, the email was not really offensive.
Not sure if this has been posted before, but it’s a longer video of the afternoon, including students addressing Dean Holloway at Cross Campus prior to their march to Silliman. Much of the video starts 45 minutes into the interaction. I’d be curious as to who filmed it. Although I could be wrong it doesn’t appear it would have been Lukianoff. The woman who speaks from :30 to 4:30 is impassioned but rational and respectful. Although expressing her deep disappointment in him she shakes Holloway’s hand at the end. According to the poster of the video, “Dozens of students addressed Holloway over the course of three hours.” They chanted and cheered but were overall calm, and they allowed Holloway to speak to them uninterrupted at the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCJinRa4JGc&feature=youtu.be
I agree that the Christakises were/are tone deaf in their interactions with the students. They both seem to be addressing the issue from an intellectual standpoint without paying enough attention to the emotional impact their positions might have on the students in their RC.
My son was very briefly friends with one of the Christakis kids in elementary school. I remember the parents as highly intelligent and intellectual but not particularly socially adept.
Can’t wait to see how long the giant sculpture of the letters “Y” and “O” last in Brooklyn Bridge Park. If you are crossing the bridge into Brooklyn you are greeted with a “YO” and coming back into Manhattan from Brooklyn it reads “OY.” It made me smile and I think it perfectly captures the spirit of NY. Sure there will be some vocal group that doesn’t see it that way.
My personal thought on all this is to conduct yourself with kindness and courtesy. If you do that, you will never intentionally offend or hurt another person outside of your closest circle. But everyone goofs up from time to time, and everyone else has their own personal issues. Which is why if you are offended by an act or word not intended to hurt or offend you, then you speak to that person and tell them why. If you can’t come to a meeting of the minds, you need to ask yourself if you are being overly sensitive and, if not, then the next time you should be prepared to take action against the person offending you because then it is intentional. I also think that natural consequences (being ostracized, not being invited to specific parties, etc.) are more powerful than running to the authority figure and wailing “Johnny called me a bad name!” most of the time, particularly when you’re an adult. And ultimately, if your offense doesn’t cross the line into actionable behavior, then if you complain to those in authority, you will be angry at the offender and at the authority figure whom you will perceive to have let you down - even though there was nothing they could realistically do for you.
My apologies. I should have said urban life, not real life. New Haven and Williams have very different demographics and exposures. I adore Williams and I would love to spend four years there. My point is that the Yale students are not cut off from the rest of the town, which happens to be a relatively depressed one with significant problems inherent in a city of that size.