News:
According to the Associated Press, Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington has canceled classes tomorrow (11/9/2006) in order to host a campus-wide, student led, ‘diversity symposium’.
Apparently the mess started when a group of students attended an off campus party dressed in blackface, mimicking the racial segregation on the newest season of the popular reality show Survivor.
The real trouble started when pictures were taken at the party found there way online and became fodder for raging debate and discussion on a campus e-mail list.http://news.lycos.com/dynamic/stories/C/COLLEGE_RACE_SYMPOSIUM
Views:
At first glance it was my strong opinion that Whitman had gone one step too far in canceling classes for such a symposium. I did see some merit in such a response, but I saw no reason for them to put learning on hold so that students could attend.
That view, however, had one major thing missing: context. I have no connection whatsoever to Whitman: I had no real idea what the climate was like on campus. It is on that note that I must go out and take a look around the blogosphere - apparently this whole controversy is a very big issue on the campus. I think the following quote sums up my research pretty well:
This act, of course, is highly offensive and displays an intense and troubling ignorance on the part of those students. However, the debate itself?whether waged on the listserv, in faculty meetings or in conversations with students?has proven itself to be more troubling and more offensive than the incident ever was.http://whitmanpioneer.wordpress.com/[…]
Even with that in mind, I still believe that canceling classes is excessive and I applaud the administration for not making (as far as I can tell) the event a mandatory, indoctrination type event as we have seen in the Freshman Orientations (which I bet provide amazing content for blogs) at various colleges around the nation, as seen here and here.
I’m starting to ramble, so I’ll close with one last thought: I really hope that parts of the symposium get put online for the blogosphere to dissect. Somehow it has piqued my interest, and I really wonder just what they’ll be talking about.
Common Sense:
Don’t dress in blackface unless you have a really good reason.