Reading Book About KKK as Racial Harassment?
The matter seems to have been finally resolved, and resolved right (though the complaint should have been thrown out at the very beginning, rather than leading to a finding of racial harassment). Here's the letter from the Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis Chancellor:
I can candidly say that we regret this situation took place and that IUPUI takes this matter very seriously. IUPUI is committed to ensuring that its future approach to such matters is consistent with and affirms the long-standing commitment of this campus to the principles of freedom of expression, lifelong learning, and respect for the rights of all members of the IUPUI community. In the near future, IUPUI will be reexamining the campuswide affirmative action processes and procedures relating to internal complaints.Thanks to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and the ACLU of Indiana for their work on this case.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Reading Book About KKK as Racial Harassment?
- Harassment By "Reading ... Book Related to a Historically and Racially Abhorrent Subject":
- You Can't Read That!:
The morons who pushed this deserve to be isolated--from employment.
Oh, and good on them for dismissing this... it went on much longer than it should have.
Go ahead--Pile on me. Just know that the shame I feel over this incident will wound me more deeply than anything you can throw at me.
(I mean figuratively "throw", of course. Because, like a desk or something would probably hurt worse.)
I know. It's a hard one. But I now say I am a historian. While I realize that language does not have to make sense, I was struck when a colleague once asked me if I would ever say "I am an historian, and have written an history of . . . "
No, I would not.
Neither aspirates the initial "h". And this really was not a problem for us Mid-westerners . . . UNTIL our new dean came on board. His name is 'Hugh'. So this comes up frequently, though now I am on the look out for it.
But the scenario that kept cropping up:
Me: "OK. This seems like a problem this college will face in the coming years."
LI-Guy: "I'm just going to let you deal deal with it."
Me: "I can't deal with it. That's why I'm asking you."
LIG: "No. Not you deal with it. You."
Me: "Hugh?"
LIG: "Right! XXXXHHHugh."
I still rememeber the half-second of total panic when I heard my outgoing dean tell me that "This is a problem that only you can deal with." WHY ME!
Silly Midwesterners and our aspirated "h"s.
Emsl: Fascinating theory. One would like it to be true (as perhaps it is), even if not.
However, it sounds like the just sort of artificial grammatical stricture that it's high time for ordinary usage to put paid to.
Can you or anyone clarify how the rule whereby words beginning in 'h' where the stress was on the second syllable (e.g., "historian") received an "an", whereas words where this wasn't true ("history") were awarded "a", originated?
As Mark Steyn has recently noted and all attorneys deny knowing, the process is the punishment.
Going back to square one and pretending this did not happen is not sufficient.
These morons and others like them, if they are not severely sanctioned, retain the implicit right to give you a very hard time if you do anything, anything at all, that they dislike. They can even make stuff up.
start mocking them by putting 'h's hin where they don't belong.
On topic, I find it interesting that the Chancellor did not apologize for the actions of the university, but merely expressed his regret that the "situation took place". IS IUPUI that they overreacted over the book or that they got caught?
"Ow does e like is istory omework?"
Wow. That DOES sound Cockney.
Being in charge means never having to say you're sorry. ;^)
FIRE does good work, but not good enough. They really should try to put people in jail.
The incident, no surprise, related to something he thought and taught. No accusation that he had touched the accuser, or pressured her to engage in sex acts. But she found two of his ideas threatening to her as a woman. (I leave that without quote marks, since I have not seen the correspondence in years. But, boy, I think that was actually the wording.) She thus concluded that she had been "sexually violated." (Quotes here. Hard to forget.)
Of course the university went through the whole procedure that involved assuming she was a victim until he could placate their suspicions by producing blood from a turnip. Or vice-versa. Anyway, it was hard to prove his innocence, even though the facts were never much in dispute.
He was cleared of all charges. She was not punished. The AAUP did not sanction the school for violating his intellectual liberty. (Only surpsie: He was voted tenure. Justlate. Since this dragged on for two years, roughly.)
And now he works in the policy field.
"The process is the punishment"? In his case, it sure was.
Absolutely right. And I like the word "tool" in this context.
So, are you a single Dome-er or a Double Dome-er (and is "Dome-er" hyphenated?).
emsl -- I think that "One of Many"'s explanation of the quirks of "H" in modern English is better supported.
In Ancient Greek, the digamma was the letter corresponding to the rough breathing sound. By the time of Classical Attic Greek, the digamma was no longer used. Still, that may have had a more important consequence than whether "a" or "an" should preceed words beginning with "h". Some confusion developed as to whether "esti" or "hesti" was meant (roughly, "it is", denoting a physical object, vs. "there exists", denoting an abstract concept) and a major factor in leading Classical Greek philosophers to recognize abstractions as a concept distinct from concrete objects. (Full disclosure: In college I spent some time in the company of a Classics grad student. She was a hottie (an hottie?). It is amazing what a student will listen to, and by chance learn, in the pursuit of knowledge. And, sobering to conclude that much of modern Western thought may stem from a linguistic accident.
Our rivers could not possibly contain intoxicants, since if the did, by law they would have to be closed on Sunday. And no one has yet figured out how to work that one. (I know, I know. But on the other hand, the people here really are friendly.)
Our rivers could not possibly contain intoxicants, since if the did, by law they would have to be closed on Sunday. And no one has yet figured out how to work that one. (I know, I know. But on the other hand, the people here really are friendly.)
The shop steward who initially told Keith that this book was equivalent to pornography was stripped of his position by the union.
The top Affirmative Action Officer has been replaced and the position's title changed "Director of Equal Opportunity" (unfortunately the office wasn't abolished but that is unrealistic I suppose), and the office is getting some serious attention which has uncovered similar incidents which didn't receive this kind of attention.
Although the campus administration seems to be composed mostly of incompetent buffoons (nobody ever reads the internet so this won't come back to bite me in the ass, right?), I think it is a mistake to tar the entire university with the blame for this stupidity. From the very beginning Keith has received tremendous support from students and faculty. His Dean even discussed with the school's department chairs sending a letter of protest against this travesty although I don't know if they actually followed through.
Good news, indeed.
However, the outcome as detailed above is a lesson to those who seek power by feigning outrage. Not necessarily a winner, and not necessarily a freebie.