3 ms·

I was disappointed with the extreme reaction of some students, but that was the exception (although that exception was what was seen on YouTube). I am much more

I was disappointed with the extreme reaction of some students, but that was the exception (although that exception was what was seen on YouTube). I am much more disappointed that the people in power that were entrusted with the mentoring of these students (the Christakises were not simply in faculty positions, they were also entrusted with very particular respected mentoring positions at the college) failed to comprehend the complaints of the students. It was not about one stupid email, it was about the consistent dismissal of the small but compounding negative experiences. I am certain you will find as many opinions as there were students, but you can see the examples that I observed in one of the sibling comments.

geezerjay 8y ago
Can you actually provide any concrete example that demonstrates the patter of dismissal that you're repeatedly mentioning? It's starting to sound an awful lot like weasel words to keep insisting on a thesis that's already been put to rest due to the oveewhelming evidence of the contrary.
- krastanov 8y ago
  These two comments of mine cover some of it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19445027 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19445027 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19442868 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19442868 Most of the "overwhelming evidence of the contrary" is the prof trying to pacify overly-angry and overly-emotional students in a YouTube video, without any commentary on the majority of the events and conversations surrounding the debacle. The fact is that the prof did little to fight the casual racism on campus (and their position as "head of college" expects them to deal with problems surrounding bullying/racism/sexism/etc). They simply tried to switch the topic (not maliciously, rather because of obliviousness) to talking about freedom of speech. Most people already agree with them about the freedom of speech topic, so let's try to do something about the casual even oblivious racism on campus.

geezerjay 8y ago

Can you actually provide any concrete example that demonstrates the patter of dismissal that you're repeatedly mentioning? It's starting to sound an awful lot like weasel words to keep insisting on a thesis that's already been put to rest due to the oveewhelming evidence of the contrary.

krastanov 8y ago
These two comments of mine cover some of it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19445027 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19445027 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19442868 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19442868 Most of the "overwhelming evidence of the contrary" is the prof trying to pacify overly-angry and overly-emotional students in a YouTube video, without any commentary on the majority of the events and conversations surrounding the debacle. The fact is that the prof did little to fight the casual racism on campus (and their position as "head of college" expects them to deal with problems surrounding bullying/racism/sexism/etc). They simply tried to switch the topic (not maliciously, rather because of obliviousness) to talking about freedom of speech. Most people already agree with them about the freedom of speech topic, so let's try to do something about the casual even oblivious racism on campus.