One student starts off by accusing Christakis of being racist because he doesn’t know her name. How in the world not remembering 500 students’ names is racist is still completely unclear, probably because it makes absolutely no sense.
At one point in the video series, Christakis animatedly expresses that “other people have rights too, not just you.” This is not a particularly noteworthy revelation if you are even mildly familiar with the United States Constitution. It should be even less noteworthy to an elite student at Yale University who should be better versed in the basic freedoms of this country than the rest of us underlings.
However, it was so distressing to a female student in the crowd that she actually screams in his face, “be quiet,” throws out a couple f-bombs, and takes off her backpack as if signaling the start of an altercation. All because when she got in his face and tried to explain to him what his job description was, he calmly stated he disagreed.
She was also complaining about her safe space being threatened while aggressively getting in his face. The irony is rich.
This actually happened. At an Ivy League School. This is America’s future.
Actually @ Zinhead. The masters usually know All of the kids name. Previous silliman master memorized All the names before the freshmen got there. She also met with them one and one and she ate together with the students in the dining hall. So it has always been a close,knit family.
Yale does this student a great disservice if they don’t address her abusive outburst directed toward a professor. Although he was surrounded and out numbered his discourse was measured and reasonable. Her response speaks volumes about how she believes freedom of speech should be applied in our society - unevenly - she can speak her mind, but you lose your rights if you happen to disagree with her. In that case you are shouted down and sworn at for your beliefs. And you are then supposed to apologize for what you believe.
No university can turn students like this out into the world - they will fail miserably. Can you imagine what the response will be in the corporate world when she approaches conflict resolution in this manner?
Sorry but I do not want to spend a quarter of a million dollars for my child to attend a university where he is told what halloween costume he is allowed to wear and where his fellow peers scream “You are disgusting” to their professors… this is ridiculous!
“This actually happened. At an Ivy League School. This is America’s future.”
Not really, though. Think any employer is going to put up with kind of nonsense? The uberPC offended-by-how-you-breathe crowd is going to implode in the real world.
Whether he should be told to is up to debate hence this conflict. And it’s not “his fellow peers” but A fellow peer of his. Are you going to withdraw your son from Yale because of this incident? Has he agreed?
@learninginprog - In the first video the master explains that he has issues remembering peoples names. The fact that he does not remember Jerelyn or Milika is no excuse for the verbal assault in the later videos.
@zinhead is government or the non-profit world code for negative or less than other careers? Last I looked, places like the Gates Foundation had a very ambitious mission, with some of brightest professionals around, and working capital that is in the 40 billion neighborhood…
If one wants to go a bit metaphorical…it could also apply to long-standing student organizations long associated with the mainstream US upper/upper-middle class establishment…the fraternities…
@ ZInhead it concerns me that he has issues remembering people’s names as that is one of the criteria in establishing that cohesiveness in the respective residential colleges. In his own words from silliman masters info page " I am especially interested in getting to know you as people — to know about your individual interests, honest, aspirations, quandaries".