I know Peter Salovey, and I’m not a huge fan. But today I actually feel sorry for the fellow because listening to this pathetic bull crap and managing not to laugh is no common feat:
“Because the administration has been unwilling to properly address institutional racism and interpersonal racism at Yale, Next Yale has spent hours organizing, at great expense to our health and grades, to fight for a University where we feel safe,” one of the student leaders read from a prepared statement to Salovey.
This is from a letter that student protesters read out to Yale ‘ s president Salovey.
A serious question, though. How is it possible for people not to understand that they undermine their entire message with “great expense to health and grades”? That they lose all credibility as serious organizers with this idiotic phrase? These are Yale students, they can’t be completely dumb. They have Internet, television, I’m sure they can’t be oblivious to the attention directed to them and to how this “great expense” sounds when delivered by a bunch of very rich kids who have known no hardship in their lives.
What’s really frustrating is that, underneath Halloween costumes, safe places, and great health expenses, there is an important cause here, begging to be addressed. But these rich people can’t be trusted not to mess up even something this obvious.
And please don’t tell me this is all because they are young. I was 18 once, and I was not a complete idiot. One can be 18 and still manage to stand upright and not topple over.
Clarissa's Blog 
The post was pre-scheduled and I forgot about it completely. It looks insensitive now after everything that’s been going on. But at least I remembered to pull my celebratory wedding anniversary post in time.
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I liked this article:
Selective Outrage on Campus
Following the forced resignations of the President and Provost of the University of Missouri, demonstrations against campus administrators has spread across the country. Students — many of whom are Black, gay, transgender and Muslim — claim that they feel “unsafe” as the result of what they call “white privilege” or sometimes simply privilege.
[…]
The point is not only that some students care less about freedom of expression in general than about protecting all students from “micro-aggressions.” It is that many of these same students are perfectly willing to make other students with whom they disagree with feel unsafe and offended by their own micro- and macro-aggressions. Consider, for example, a recent protest at the City University of New York by Students for Justice in Palestine that blamed high tuition on “the Zionist Administration [of the University that] invests in Israeli companies, companies that support the Israeli occupation, hosts birthright programs and study abroad programs in occupied Palestine [meaning Israel proper] and reproduces settler-colonial ideology throughout CUNY though Zionist content of education.”
Let’s be clear what they mean by “Zionist”: they mean “Jew”. There are many Jewish administrators at City University. Some are probably Zionists. Others are probably not. Blaming Zionists for high tuition is out and out anti-Semitism. It is not micro-aggression. It is in-your-face macro-aggression against City University Jews.
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6870/selective-outrage-on-campus
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“Consider, for example, a recent protest at the City University of New York by Students for Justice in Palestine that blamed high tuition on “the Zionist Administration [of the University that] invests in Israeli companies, companies that support the Israeli occupation, hosts birthright programs and study abroad programs in occupied Palestine [meaning Israel proper] and reproduces settler-colonial ideology throughout CUNY though Zionist content of education.””
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“I have heard some concerns about health and grades in connection with this course. Since I am not an uncaring person, I have anticipated your needs in advance. Drop slips may be found in buckets near the exits, and for those who may be remaining, I’ve asked several doctors from the campus infirmary to conduct optional examinations that should determine whether you have adequate physical health to complete this course.
Naturally, those who fail these optional examinations will be given the choice of filling out a drop slip or receiving an incomplete grade for this course, which may be made up at a later time when you are in sufficiently good health. Of course, those who do not avail themselves of this optional screening and these other opportunities should expect to be in this for the longer haul and should also consider themselves completely bereft of further excuses …”
If your first reaction is, “Jones, that’s a completely arsehole thing to do”, might I remind you that I am not disputing this assessment of my personality in the slightest.
[BTW, thanks to the emergency med-tech drinking buddies who showed up to “screen” the students, here’s £50 for the collective beer fund …] 🙂
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No, it would be great to do something like this. But this is Yale, so the next step will be an irate Daddy threatening to unleash an army of lawyers on you for not giving his little bunny the A he deserves.
But I do love the fantasy. 🙂
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