Infinite MonkeysYou may have seen reports last week about a Claremont McKenna College professor whose car was vandalized with racial and anti-Semitic epithets. The administration cancelled classes on Wednesday and quickly assembled a great rally against racism and intolerance on behalf of psychology professor Kerri Dunn. The community was justifiably outraged. How could such a barbaric, bigoted act happen here? Claremont is, like most college towns, a pretty liberal place. At the Claremont Farmers Market on Sunday, people could be seen carrying and driving around with signs proclaiming "Pro-Diversity, Anti-Hate."
Turns out, police say, Dunn probably vandalized her own car.
She denies it. "This is like a very big deal if they think I'm a suspect," Dunn told an L.A. Times reporter. "I didn't want any of this from the beginning. This is so overshadowing the bigger problem on campus, which is that the administration has turned its head regularly on hate speech and hate crimes." Her lawyer added: "[I]t is an outrageous and sad twist to victimize a person who was trying to speak out against hate crimes. I don't know who vandalized her car, but I know it wasn't her."
We'll return to the question of "hate speech" and "hate crimes" on the Claremont Colleges in a moment. For now, however, let's look at how the locals are taking the news.
You would think the college administration would be deeply embarrassed today. Maybe they are, but it's hard to know. Scripps College President Nancy Y. Bekavac said in a message to the college: "Above all, we must focus on this: even if the vandalized car and slogans were a hoax, our responses last week were right and appropriate—in our community meeting March 10 ... and in our strong participation in the evening rally at CMC with all The Claremont Colleges. However painful and confusing this latest development is, we cannot forget the reasons we were outraged in the first place; we cannot avoid the challenges that hatred poses to our community, to our country."
And according to the Times, "Claremont McKenna College President Pamela Gann said the idea that Dunn vandalized her own car came as 'a shock and a surprise.' Gann said that Dunn's continued employment at the school was under review but that the college remained committed to 'academic freedom and free speech.'" Whether or not lying to police and the FBI constitutes "academic freedom and free speech" is a subject I'm sure we'll be hearing more about in the coming days and weeks. But say this for the college administrators: They know an educational opportunity when they see one. Today's lesson: Never Let Facts Get In The Way of The Truth.
"Whatever the ultimate outcome," of the investigation, Claremont Graduate University President Steadman Upham wrote in an e-mail, "I remain heartened with the outpouring of support we saw last week on our campus and throughout the Claremont Colleges for the values of inclusiveness, tolerance, and diversity. As a university, we are committed to taking concrete steps to make CGU a place where all people feel welcome and included, regardless of their race, gender, culture, religion, sexual orientation, or nationality."
Within days of the bogus hate-crime report, the colleges began taking steps to eradicate the plague of bigotry that had erupted so suddenly in their midst. CGU's Board of Trustees announced last Friday the formation of something called the "Permanent Group on Tolerance, Fairness, and Diversity."
In his announcement, CGU President Upham said, "Incidents of intolerance have occurred because we have allowed the conditions that sustain racism and anti-Semitism to exist. Eradicating these conditions must become a priority of everyone associated with CGU and the other Claremont Colleges. ...We believe this action will begin a process of renewed concern at the very top of the university to advance programs and actions that encourage, sustain, and expand tolerance, fairness, and diversity."
The students are getting it, mostly. Again, from the L.A. Times: "Andrew McDavid, editor of the Claremont Student monthly campus newspaper, said he felt 'manipulated.'" [In other words, like a good-hearted young liberal fellow, he bought the story.] "I had considered the possibility that someone might be doing this to make a point about racism on the campuses," McDavid said. "But I dismissed that as a bit of a conspiracy theory." That's college journalism for you!
Meanwhile, they're having a field day in the forums over at CMCStudents.com.
But some students—I'd venture to say a slim majority—see the incident as a good thing. One told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin that "Dunn must have been desperately trying to raise awareness of racial issues." Because nobody was paying attention to a problem that barely exists, you see. The papers refer to a "string of incidents" leading up to the vandalism of Dunn's car, but all of the reports seem to mention only two: "Earlier this year," according to the Times, "four students stole an 11-foot cross from an art class and set it afire. The next month, a student discovered a racial slur written on a picture of George Washington Carver, a black agricultural scientist."
That's it? That's it. Crude, stupid stuff, especially at a university in the 21st century. But can anybody seriously argue that it represents an underlying climate of hatred and bigotry?
"The community's response Wednesday was to the climate of privilege and hate that exist on these campuses," Pomona College student Jeremy Schulman told a reporter from the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. "But this climate did not begin or end with the vandalism to professor Dunn's car and we need to be sure to continue to confront these issues."
Nonsense. Here's what this is really about: progressivism vs. "reaction." There is within the Claremont Colleges a very small but influential enclave of political conservatism. It isn't the force it was, say, 30 or even 20 years ago, but it's there, like a pebble in the shoe or an itch you can't scratch. An itch with tenure, you might say. The government department at Claremont McKenna, for example, remains largely on the right. There are others. It is a problem for the liberals on the faculty and especially within the administration. What to do?
Well, if you can't drive them out for being hopelessly conservative, what if you tag them as "anti-diversity"? What if you say their ideas create a climate of intolerance on the campus?
That's what Kerri Dunn thinks. She said so at the rally last week. From a transcript of her remarks:
What are you gonna do, I said, I kept saying what are you gonna do, these are your friends under attack, these are my friends under attack, these are your colleagues, these are your peers, you’re my students who are being attacked. What are we gonna to do?Many people responded with, well you know Professor Dunn, we’ve always been taught that we should be racially blind, and that by not paying attention to it and not calling attention to differences we would minimize them. You know, that’s a beautiful, beautiful, explanation... or should I say, um… all right, piece of shit...
(Applause)
It has absolutely no substance and no utility in society wherein we are founded on diversity. The Statue of Liberty stands every day of all of our lives theoretically welcoming people to this land to become part of us. So to say that we should act like we’re color blind I really believe is an excuse. I believe it’s an excuse to remain lazy, it’s an excuse to turn your head. And it’s an excuse to allow these idiots to continue with their agenda.
(Applause)
< snip >
And I just, you know, I want to end this by saying as a group, we stand here, and we say we’re pro-diversity and anti-hate (applause) and that the people who espouse these hateful ideologies, really, I said earlier today should go underground. What I meant is that they should go to hell.
Understand, then, that there really is a war of ideas being waged in the United States and around the world today. The self-styled forces of "progress" believe that justice is on their side. And they'll lie and cheat to make damned certain of it.
Update: In a town ruled by pompous, "progressive" sloganeering, here is a refreshing alternative.
Update II: If you liked this post, you will love this one.
Posted by Ben at March 18, 2004 11:23 AM | TrackBack