[447] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
RE: Gender and race
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Thomas G Cadwell)
Wed May 2 00:42:50 2001
Message-Id: <200105020442.AAA12940@biohazard-cafe.mit.edu>
To: mit-talk@MIT.EDU, zlscott@MIT.EDU
Date: Wed, 02 May 2001 00:42:22 -0400
From: Thomas G Cadwell <tcadwell@MIT.EDU>
>Prof. Clarence Williams teaches, "Bridging Cultural and Racial Differences"
>and I think it would be nice to turn that class into a HASS-D
>that is required by ALL to take it. This doesn't harm anyone and gives
>the institute the ability to say in a big way that they are committed
>to producing leaders who are not racist and are able to deal with
>people who are different than them.
Choices are good. Being forced into a particular choice denies choice.
MIT is about choices. Not such a good idea...
Also, I think drawing attention to cultural differences in many cases
is akin to picking at a scab or something. Race relations are healthy
when people dont talk about race, because differences seldom bring
people together except when you are assembling a team of diverse talents
or something.
I think that pointing out the differences ultimately causes people to ignore
the similarities. And we dont need a class to teach us the similariites,
because our common academic purpose binds those similarities every day
>Another thing I would like to see (again another idea that I have
>talked about with others) is a lounge space that purely dedicated
>to socializing for all people. I think someone suggested
>that the theme of this lounge would be sports. I realize that we
>do have the muddy and the thirsty ear but this lounge would be
>non-alcoholic and could possibly go where Tosci's is in the student
>center if Tosci's ever gets kicked out.
lounges invariably get taken over by cliches. You can't really force a
community to exist, you can just put the pieces in place. Activities
and UROPs I think are where communities are built most. And I dont
think theres an easy way to get people to do more activities and UROPs.
I'm all for a stronger MIT community, and I think that some degree of
policy could help improve it -- I'm sure you hvae some good ideas on that
too. I just dont think these particular ideas would work so well.
I persnoally think more funding for undergraduate activities in general
would help. Ever seen what wellesley gets? It goes a long way for them!
Yay wine tastings!
Tom
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