[642] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: Dartmouth and Zeta Psi
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sourav K. Mandal)
Sat May 12 21:09:41 2001
Message-Id: <200105130109.VAA06972@dichotomy.dyn.dhs.org>
From: "Sourav K. Mandal" <Sourav.Mandal@ikaran.com>
Reply-To: "Sourav K. Mandal" <Sourav.Mandal@ikaran.com>
To: mit-talk@mit.edu
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Date: Sat, 12 May 2001 21:09:03 -0400
""Prez H. Cannady" <revprez@MIT.EDU>" wrote:
> [...] What's next? Crackdown on any party
> that plays hip hop because it "degrades women," "promotes
> racial stereotypes," and "advocates criminal behavior?"
The real problem here is that the ZP newsletter provided the names of
real people. While there are certainly no _legal_ grounds for tort
action, it violates the implicit expectation of privacy that one has
when living in a college campus. In a residental university, this
expectation is vital towards creating an enviroment conducive to
education. The administration of the university, as stewards of an
_intellectual_ community, has an obligation to discipline those who
would interfere with its bottom line -- learning.
Playing "hip hop" is tolerable, since it does not directly harm the
university's mission by directly harming its members.
Aram Harrow posted links to the original documents, suggesting that the
Zeta Psi newsletter is a _personal_ communication, and that the same
expectation of privacy I discuss above can be applied to the
newsletter. However, Zeta Psi is an official house in Dartmouth's
official housing system, and this was their newsletter; the fact that
it was internal does not relieve Zeta Psi of the obligation to follow
Dartmouth's policies. After Zeta Psi is disbanded this spring, members
who have a strong desire to make tasteless conversation should do it
from the comfort of their dorm rooms or apartments on _private_ mailing
lists.
Peter Shulman raises the idea of an official MIT code of conduct.
Based on the right principles, this can be a good thing; based on the
wrong principles, this can magnify the scourge of political correctness
to heretofore unseen heights.
Cheers,
Sourav
------------------------------------------------------------
Sourav K. Mandal
Sourav.Mandal@ikaran.com
http://www.ikaran.com/Sourav.Mandal/
