University of Delaware and racism

[19_99]

I know a lot of you keep up with the news and politics and the rights we have as citizens of this country etc. I'm sure some of you (those of you who don't avoid Fox) may have heard about University of Delaware's "Forced diversity program" or whatever they're calling it. The article that started all the hypeI think this is crazy, and I think it's

Comments

[kungfoofengshui]

RA's should be checked if they're being over zealous. I mean, they're ranked higher than students, so in effect, they represent the school more so than the students, and what they say can be perceived as the views of the university.
I think this whole diversity thing is pretty ridiculous (where I go, we have mandatory Diversity Workshops). I mean, I had to go to one and I thought it was the biggest waste of time.
Also, the beliefs of a guest lecturer can mirror the belief (or just the lazyness) of the University. I'm making a leap here, but if the University didn't say anything about the guest lecturer, then either a) the University has no problem with the Guest Lecturer teaching the RA's or b) the university wanted to give the impression that they're doing something to "diversify" their students. As to what was said, they didn't bother to say anything about it.
These are initial reactions, and I'll read more into this and actually watch the interview when I have the time. But if you guys think im dead wrong, please correct me.

[19_99]

RAs should be checked, but the whole university shouldn't be blamed on a few overzealous students. While companies (and in this case UDel) should be responsible for their employees, there is a line; they can't take responsibility for everything, especially if the RAs are not following the University's policy.

Yes, diversity things can be pretty silly, but so can everything else schools put people through (Alcohol Edu, campus familiarity workshops, etc.) there is a difference between thinking a workshop is a waste of time and thinking a workshop needs to be brought to the attention of a rights activist group.

In high school I attended a Junior Statesmen of America convention thing, and their guest speaker was a member of the local Communist party. This was a valid opinion the organisers of the event thought was worth hearing. They, however, were not Communists themselves, and accusing them of being Communists because of one speaker is just silly. This could easily parallel with UDel's situation. If an organisation has to agree with everything a guest speaker said (or any other speaker for that matter) there would be no guest speakers. Yes, the University probably did want their students to understand diversity and outside views on it, but this is not the same as having the university itself define all whites as inherently racist.

So yes, I disagree with quite a few of your points.