Uh, Seriously?
I hit FIRE's website looking at another incident they are publicizing and decided to look up Harvey Mudd. Apparently since I went there they have gotten a bit silly about "bias incidents". Case in point:
Then, a week later, Harvey Mudd College Dean of Students Jeanne Noda e-mailed all students to note that someone had written "Hillary is a foxy lesbian" on a whiteboard. According to Noda,
"It seems that the student residents wrote this message as part of a joke, without thinking about the impact it might have on others. It refers to a prominent public figure. The message has been erased. Campus Safety has been notified."
I won't deny that this is offensive, because it is (though I'd also say it's pretty mild as sexist anti-Hillary jokes go). Since there is no mention of a pattern, I'm really curious why 2 seconds with a whiteboard eraser didn't solve the situation rather than an investigation and notification of "Campus Safety" (apparently this is what they now call Campus Security).
More recently, there is this:
This latest incident came about because of an advertisement for a "Wild Wild West" party with a picture of Jesus holding a beer and a cigarette, with the caption, "Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the West and have come to party."
I think this is a pretty funny poster, myself. I certainly can see how some might consider it blasphemous, but tough cookies. Freedom of speech does not include freedom from being offended.
The article goes on to say this:
HMC is the only college in the Claremont Consortium ranked as a red-light school in FIRE's Spotlight database of speech codes.
Ouch. Just ouch. When did HMC go off the deep end by drinking the "No one may ever be offended" Kool-Aid?
Then, a week later, Harvey Mudd College Dean of Students Jeanne Noda e-mailed all students to note that someone had written "Hillary is a foxy lesbian" on a whiteboard. According to Noda,
"It seems that the student residents wrote this message as part of a joke, without thinking about the impact it might have on others. It refers to a prominent public figure. The message has been erased. Campus Safety has been notified."
I won't deny that this is offensive, because it is (though I'd also say it's pretty mild as sexist anti-Hillary jokes go). Since there is no mention of a pattern, I'm really curious why 2 seconds with a whiteboard eraser didn't solve the situation rather than an investigation and notification of "Campus Safety" (apparently this is what they now call Campus Security).
More recently, there is this:
This latest incident came about because of an advertisement for a "Wild Wild West" party with a picture of Jesus holding a beer and a cigarette, with the caption, "Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the West and have come to party."
I think this is a pretty funny poster, myself. I certainly can see how some might consider it blasphemous, but tough cookies. Freedom of speech does not include freedom from being offended.
The article goes on to say this:
HMC is the only college in the Claremont Consortium ranked as a red-light school in FIRE's Spotlight database of speech codes.
Ouch. Just ouch. When did HMC go off the deep end by drinking the "No one may ever be offended" Kool-Aid?