A group of protesters at Columbia, responding in part (but only in part, they insist) to “a few ignorant [i.e., conservative] student groups,” has demanded that Columbia create:
- A Committee on Diversity, which would have “policy-making power” to handle incidents of alleged bias, “including incidents of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia”;
- Deans of Multicultural Affairs for Columbia College and for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. These deans would oversee a
- Multicultural Affairs Office, which would “provide designated safe space for students of color and other marginalized students”;
- The establishment of “permanent on-campus cultural housing”;
- A new required course that would address “issues of power and oppression in the United States, including the process of racialization and the ideology of gender”;
- More money and more autonomy for the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race and the Institute for Research in African American Studies.
President Lee Bollinger, formerly of the University of Michigan, said his meeting with these students was “very helpful,” and he added that “I really admire the students and plan to continue working with them.” (Link thanks to Dave Huber.)
That’s not multi-culti. That’s “Separate but Equal” and against the law, isn’t it?
When do the sit-ins start? And will Kerry be leading them?
You know, me and my kin mostly don’t attend high prestige schools.
It just cheers me up everytime I see some big name school cheapening its name. For example, this sort of cultural housing was tried at Cornell I believe back in the 1960’s. I still recall the Times magazine article showing the police surrounding the black dorm as the blacks finally surrendered and lay down their weapons. Serious oppression, that. Actually, that was some serious affirmative action, allowing ghetto criminals into Ivy League schools. I say, keep this silliness up. It makes me and my kin look better and better.
Makes me think of the Bard:
Do not dull thy palm
With the entertainment of each new hatched, unfledged courage.
Of course, in this case they are just repeating the same old mistakes. Who really cares?
Joel
Loved the “demands” part, and the insistence that the administration respond by 5 p.m.
All that was missing was a communique.
Were the protesters wearing t-shirts with the mandatory picture of Che?
How chic! How completely 60s!
Time for an update, John:
After two meetings with student leaders regarding the campus climate toward racism and discrimination, University President Lee Bollinger has agreed to institute a new Multicultural Affairs Office.
But the students who submitted the original proposal to the administration last week say that Bollinger failed to address all of their concerns.
“We had an agreement that [the administration] would respond in detail to each of the proposed points presented to them,” said David Johns, CC ’04 and one of the students who met with Bollinger last week. “This did not happen.”
How rude of President Bollinger not to meet all of their “demands.” Although he apparently did meet the 5:00 deadline. (Don’t deadlines need an “or else” attached to them to be effective?)
The “United Students of Color Council”‘s website is pretty interesting. You can read their proposal and Bollinger’s response from this page.
If all of the demands were not met, it is clear that they must seize the Chancellor’s office and burn some furniture (or is that hols their collective breath until they turn blue? – I sometimes have trouble keeping those two options straight).
Sandy P.,
“Separate but equal?” Who said anything about equal? Equality is for counter-revolutionary swine and capitalist running dogs. No, we don’t want equality; we want the white oppressors flayed in the campus square. We want their heads on pikes. And for those who are Christians or Southerners, we won’t be that kind. These will have their intestines fed to the wolverines (while being flayed).
Oh, and we also want the letter “Z” stricken from the English language. You have until 5:00pm to respond…or else.
“…for students of color…”
That phrase just struck me as odd. I mean, why isn’t white a “color?” As far as the spectrum goes, it is all colors together actually, and that pretty much goes to describe the typical American–since they come from a melting pot of cultures.
In response to the previous post by StuartT…
I am a White, Christian, Southerner with a “z” in my middle name.
…There goes my luck.
Lee Bollinger is in a tight position here, since the Columbia students are asking him for a carbon copy nearly of what’s already in place at U-Michigan.
Lee Bollinger is in a tight position here, since the Columbia students are asking him for a carbon copy nearly of what’s already in place at U-Michigan.