[475] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
RE: penn state
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jonathan S. White)
Thu May 3 00:25:27 2001
From: "Jonathan S. White" <smoove@MIT.EDU>
To: "Matt Craighead" <craighea@MIT.EDU>, <mit-talk@MIT.EDU>
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 00:24:48 -0400
Message-ID: <BNEILLLDMMFPOICJFKOBCEBJCEAA.smoove@mit.edu>
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What they are learning is that when you see a Black man standing in front of
a lecture hall, the first assumption is that he's the janitor (speak to
Prof. Calvin Mackie of Tulane University for numerous accounts). What they
learn is that white males possess all of the knowledge in this world, and
all those besides white males must again and again prove their worth. What
they learn is that when students of color speak up for what they rightfully
deserve in the 21st century on a college campus, their peers will look down
upon them because the students of color's requests are unfounded.
Now how about what we (as students of color) learn:
We learn that it is acceptable to have lower standards of achievement. We
learn that we must spend our college days in an uncomfortable environment,
being second guessed by many of our peers and professors. We learn that it
isn't as important for us to have mentors and role models by which we can
shape our lives and career paths and understand their struggles. We learn
that students like yourself tend to care more about maintaing the Pass/No
Record system in tact than seeing a faculty and graduate community that
mirrors the diverse undergraduate population.
And what these ridiculous individuals who send the hate mail learn is that
they have to hide behind a veil and not reveal themselves as cowards.
jw.
-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Craighead [mailto:craighea@MIT.EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2001 11:10 PM
To: mit-talk@mit.edu
Subject: penn state
http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/05/02/penn.state.02/index.html
I don't get it. What does a "plan to enhance diversity" have to do with
threatening letters and emails?!?
If people are getting threatening letters and emails, there is only one
valid way to respond to that: to find who is sending them and punish
them!
This agreement is blatant racism: the university is setting a goal to
"[increase] the number of full-time tenured black faculty members". Who
_cares_ how many full-time tenured black faculty members they have?
It's a university, and what matters is whether people are _learning_,
not what the faculty's skin color makeup is.
--
Matt Craighead, MIT Class of 2002
President, MIT Objectivist Club
http://web.mit.edu/objectivism/www/
