Campuses Cautiously Train Freshmen Against Subtle Insults
By STEPHANIE SAULSEPT. 6, 2016
WORCESTER, Mass. — A freshman tentatively raises her hand and takes the microphone. “I’m really scared to ask this,†she begins. “When I, as a white female, listen to music that uses the N word, and I’m in the car, or, especially when I’m with all white friends, is it O.K. to sing along?â€
The answer, from Sheree Marlowe, the new chief diversity officer at Clark University, is an unequivocal “no.â€
The exchange was included in Ms. Marlowe’s presentation to recently arriving first-year students focusing on subtle “microaggressions,†part of a new campus vocabulary that also includes “safe spaces†and “trigger warnings.â€
Microaggressions, Ms. Marlowe said, are comments, snubs or insults that communicate derogatory or negative messages that might not be intended to cause harm but are targeted at people based on their membership in a marginalized group.
Among her other tips: Don’t ask an Asian student you don’t know for help on your math homework or randomly ask a black student if he plays basketball. Both questions make assumptions based on stereotypes. And don’t say “you guys.†It could be interpreted as leaving out women, said Ms. Marlowe, who realized it was offensive only when someone confronted her for saying it during a presentation.
Clark, a private liberal arts college that has long prided itself on diversity and inclusion, is far from the only university stepping up discussions of racism and diversity in orientation programs this year.
Once devoted to ice cream socials, tutorials on campus technology systems and advice on choosing classes, orientation for new students is changing significantly, with the issue taking on renewed urgency this year as universities increasingly try to address recent racial and ethnic tensions on campuses as well as an onslaught of sexual assault complaints and investigations.
In addition to diversity sessions, many campuses train students on exactly what constitutes sexual consent as well as how to intervene when they see fellow students drinking excessively or poised to engage in nonconsensual sexual behavior.
A sampling of language and behaviors called “microagressions,†provided to Clark University students, that universities are urging students to avoid.
A bystander intervention presentation for arriving freshmen at Wesleyan University last Thursday — “We Speak We Stand†— featured students acting out fictional episodes of campus sexual violence, harassment and problematic drinking, with examples of how to intervene. “Each of you has the power to bring to light sexual violence in our community,†one student told the group.
Fresh on the minds of university officials are last year’s highly publicized episodes involving racist taunts at the University of Missouri in Columbia — which appear to have contributed to a precipitous decline in enrollment there this fall.
“That closes your doors,†said Archie Ervin, the vice president for institute diversity at Georgia Institute of Technology and president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education. “If you have sustained enrollment drops and disproportionately full-paying students such as out-of-state, the state legislature can’t make up the gap.â€
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, officials have put together a diversity presentation as a pilot program this year for 1,000 freshmen — whom some colleges refer to with the gender-neutral term first-year students. That program, expected to cost $150,000 to $200,000, follows incidents on campus last year. In one, a racist note was slipped under a black student’s door, prompting Patrick Sims, the university’s vice provost for diversity and climate, to post an emotional video on YouTube titled “Enough is Enough.â€
Lori Berquam, the university’s dean of students, said in an interview that the sessions would try to address the fact that some students in Wisconsin, a predominantly white state, have little exposure to people of other races until they get to Madison. “It would not be unheard-of for a student to join us from the state of Wisconsin having had zero people of color in their high school,†Dr. Berquam said.
In August, the University of Wisconsin system, which includes the Madison flagship and 25 other campuses, said it would ask the State Legislature for $6 million in funding to improve what it called the “university experience†for students. The request includes money for Fluent, a program described as a systemwide cultural training for faculty and staff members and students.
But that budget request has provoked controversy. “If only the taxpayers and tuition-paying families had a safe space that might protect them from wasteful UW System spending on political correctness,†State Senator Stephen L. Nass, a Republican, said in a statement issued by his office, urging his fellow lawmakers to vote against the appropriation.
Mr. Nass’s objection to spending money on diversity training reflects a rising resistance to what is considered campus political correctness. At some universities, alumni and students have objected to a variety of campus measures, including diversity training; “safe spaces,†places where students from marginalized groups can gather to discuss their experiences; and “trigger warnings,†disclaimers about possibly upsetting material in lesson plans.
Some graduates have curtailed donations and students have suggested that diversity training smacks of some sort of communist re-education program.
Sheree Marlowe, the chief diversity officer at Clark University. She works with students on how to avoid making assumptions based on stereotypes. Credit Kayana Szymczak for The New York Times
The backlash was exemplified recently in a widely publicized letter sent to incoming freshmen at the University of Chicago by the dean of students, John Ellison.
He warned that the university did not “support so-called trigger warnings, we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial and we do not condone the creation of intellectual safe spaces where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own.â€
Still, the push to respond to complaints about subtle cultural insensitivity, as well as more overt racist behavior, continues on campuses across the country. About 75 chief diversity officers have been hired by colleges and universities in the past 18 months, according to Dr. Ervin’s organization. The job frequently carries broad responsibilities that can include decision making on diversity in hiring and recruitment as well as sexual assault and misconduct.
By STEPHANIE SAULSEPT. 6, 2016
WORCESTER, Mass. — A freshman tentatively raises her hand and takes the microphone. “I’m really scared to ask this,†she begins. “When I, as a white female, listen to music that uses the N word, and I’m in the car, or, especially when I’m with all white friends, is it O.K. to sing along?â€
The answer, from Sheree Marlowe, the new chief diversity officer at Clark University, is an unequivocal “no.â€
The exchange was included in Ms. Marlowe’s presentation to recently arriving first-year students focusing on subtle “microaggressions,†part of a new campus vocabulary that also includes “safe spaces†and “trigger warnings.â€
Microaggressions, Ms. Marlowe said, are comments, snubs or insults that communicate derogatory or negative messages that might not be intended to cause harm but are targeted at people based on their membership in a marginalized group.
Among her other tips: Don’t ask an Asian student you don’t know for help on your math homework or randomly ask a black student if he plays basketball. Both questions make assumptions based on stereotypes. And don’t say “you guys.†It could be interpreted as leaving out women, said Ms. Marlowe, who realized it was offensive only when someone confronted her for saying it during a presentation.
Clark, a private liberal arts college that has long prided itself on diversity and inclusion, is far from the only university stepping up discussions of racism and diversity in orientation programs this year.
Once devoted to ice cream socials, tutorials on campus technology systems and advice on choosing classes, orientation for new students is changing significantly, with the issue taking on renewed urgency this year as universities increasingly try to address recent racial and ethnic tensions on campuses as well as an onslaught of sexual assault complaints and investigations.
In addition to diversity sessions, many campuses train students on exactly what constitutes sexual consent as well as how to intervene when they see fellow students drinking excessively or poised to engage in nonconsensual sexual behavior.
A sampling of language and behaviors called “microagressions,†provided to Clark University students, that universities are urging students to avoid.
A bystander intervention presentation for arriving freshmen at Wesleyan University last Thursday — “We Speak We Stand†— featured students acting out fictional episodes of campus sexual violence, harassment and problematic drinking, with examples of how to intervene. “Each of you has the power to bring to light sexual violence in our community,†one student told the group.
Fresh on the minds of university officials are last year’s highly publicized episodes involving racist taunts at the University of Missouri in Columbia — which appear to have contributed to a precipitous decline in enrollment there this fall.
“That closes your doors,†said Archie Ervin, the vice president for institute diversity at Georgia Institute of Technology and president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education. “If you have sustained enrollment drops and disproportionately full-paying students such as out-of-state, the state legislature can’t make up the gap.â€
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, officials have put together a diversity presentation as a pilot program this year for 1,000 freshmen — whom some colleges refer to with the gender-neutral term first-year students. That program, expected to cost $150,000 to $200,000, follows incidents on campus last year. In one, a racist note was slipped under a black student’s door, prompting Patrick Sims, the university’s vice provost for diversity and climate, to post an emotional video on YouTube titled “Enough is Enough.â€
Lori Berquam, the university’s dean of students, said in an interview that the sessions would try to address the fact that some students in Wisconsin, a predominantly white state, have little exposure to people of other races until they get to Madison. “It would not be unheard-of for a student to join us from the state of Wisconsin having had zero people of color in their high school,†Dr. Berquam said.
In August, the University of Wisconsin system, which includes the Madison flagship and 25 other campuses, said it would ask the State Legislature for $6 million in funding to improve what it called the “university experience†for students. The request includes money for Fluent, a program described as a systemwide cultural training for faculty and staff members and students.
But that budget request has provoked controversy. “If only the taxpayers and tuition-paying families had a safe space that might protect them from wasteful UW System spending on political correctness,†State Senator Stephen L. Nass, a Republican, said in a statement issued by his office, urging his fellow lawmakers to vote against the appropriation.
Mr. Nass’s objection to spending money on diversity training reflects a rising resistance to what is considered campus political correctness. At some universities, alumni and students have objected to a variety of campus measures, including diversity training; “safe spaces,†places where students from marginalized groups can gather to discuss their experiences; and “trigger warnings,†disclaimers about possibly upsetting material in lesson plans.
Some graduates have curtailed donations and students have suggested that diversity training smacks of some sort of communist re-education program.
Sheree Marlowe, the chief diversity officer at Clark University. She works with students on how to avoid making assumptions based on stereotypes. Credit Kayana Szymczak for The New York Times
The backlash was exemplified recently in a widely publicized letter sent to incoming freshmen at the University of Chicago by the dean of students, John Ellison.
He warned that the university did not “support so-called trigger warnings, we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial and we do not condone the creation of intellectual safe spaces where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own.â€
Still, the push to respond to complaints about subtle cultural insensitivity, as well as more overt racist behavior, continues on campuses across the country. About 75 chief diversity officers have been hired by colleges and universities in the past 18 months, according to Dr. Ervin’s organization. The job frequently carries broad responsibilities that can include decision making on diversity in hiring and recruitment as well as sexual assault and misconduct.
Although the article appears to make the drop in enrollment about racism, that is not the reason for Mizzou's misery. The violent protests organized by those backing minority student issues are the actual cause. Parents took Mizzou off the table for a significant number of potential applicants. Donors (mostly white) took issue with the way the administration handled the problems. Allowing chaos and mob justice is not something that attracts a lot of normal people who write checks.
The good news here is that we may see the end of rap and hip hop if enough white, middle class kids can be convinced that listening to it is 'cultural appropriation'. Absent the white, male teen/young adult buyers, there is probably not enough of an audience in today's fractured music scene to keep it going.
So, not a total loss.
NYT
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