A Different Take Than Most

When I was a student, I would have enjoyed taking such math exams. As a BCC alum, I am, I must confess, a little ashamed that this happened. As an instructor, I applaud his attempt to make the students in his courses feel more at ease. None of this, however, gets to the question of the punishment’s quality.

Ratener’s mea culpa appears to be in earnest, and I think it marks the very least he can do. A week without pay, however, is a troubling punishment, to my mind. BCC has, in its 40 years, always been open to dealing creatively with controversy (it was built with a protest area between the Student Union and what was, in my day, the building that housed the book store and the library). This punishment diminishes, some, my sense of what BCC is in terms of a community, and I hope there might be a more creative solution on the horizon.

The school has an active student government, which is one source of alternative ideas. Perhaps a better solution, however, is to go to the college’s All College Council (provided it remains, though I cannot see why it would not), a committee comprised of students, staff, faculty, and administration members (from which any may become the chair). The ACC, on which I served one year, is there to address issues that affect the campus at all levels, and this seems the right kind of issue in which to involve its members.

Decisions such as the one that resulted in this initial penalty make me think of universities, but community colleges, as I see them anyway, should be more open and inclusive when making high-profile decisions that reflect on all members of the campus community.

Andrew Purvis, at 7:25 am EDT on September 14, 2006

Baffling

The amazing amazing thing about this case is that if the professor had worded the question “Condoleezza holds a stick of dynamite just over the edge of roof of the 1300-foot World Trade Center, and tosses it up with a velocity of 20 feet per second at the instant Dick Cheney presses the button starting a controlled demolition...” he’d probably be a lionized as a hero to cause of academic freedom.

One of the major problems with higher ed today is that it so eager to ignore things truly dangerous while it simultaneously obsesses that which is offensive, yet ultimately harmless.

Stu Gittelman, at 9:20 am EDT on September 14, 2006

doesn’t happen in law school

I wonder why all this thin-skinnedness goes away by law school. In law school, hypothetical routinely consist of sexual references, political incorrectness, and political digs.

People who complain are laughed at. Then they stop. I guess they realize that they don’t “win” by complaining, but rather by doing well on the test.

Larry, at 10:10 am EDT on September 14, 2006

Racism

I find it a shame that both conscious and unconscious racism is so prevelent in our country. Tactlessness is also a problem on university campuses. I’m not sure that loss of pay could be justified given the importance of free speech and academic freedom. But appropriate apologies are always useful.

Mary McKinney, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist & Academic Coach at http://www.SuccessfulAcademic.com, at 10:10 am EDT on September 14, 2006

Racialist Vigilantes Riding High

The absurd hysteria over the silly test question offers more evidence of the exquisitely racist hypersensitivity that suffuses and pollutes our colleges and universities.

How great that FIRE has taken the case, thereby assuring that the imbeciles and thin-skinned race-detectors are mocked exposed for the censors that they are.

Greg Harris needs to put a sock in it and go read Shelby Steele’s latest book, *White Guilt* to help him learn more about our own black history in terms of humor, resilience, improvisation and keeping a sharp focus on reality.

Perhaps Harris can identify the energetic anti-racist things he has said, done or written whenever he hears black folks use racist obscenities or anti-Semitic vulgarities in his presence. I know exactly what I do!!

The comments by Stu Gittelman are absolutely correct and accurate in every way.

Chuck, at 10:15 am EDT on September 14, 2006

Oh please.

Greg — save the rant for a case of actual racism. Here it is an extremely inappropriate and disproportionate response.

True story: I love Fried Chicken and Watermelon. I even like them together — it’s a pretty good summertime meal with family and friends. Unfortunately I can’t invite my black friends to this party.

Apparently the combination of fried chicken and watermelons is racist because of some long-forgotten black sambo stereotype that has not been part of the vernacular for half a century or more. I would make the broad assumption that most people my age (I’m 28) would never have even HEARD of it were it not for race-baiters who want to take offense at everything. Isn’t it about time to finally let those dead stereotypes lie buried in the dustbin of history?

I tend to believe Dr. King when he says that people should be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. The professor offended someone with his example problem. He apologized — case closed. His reaction shows great character.

The reaction of one who will slap the “racist” label on someone because of this shows not only poor character, but poor judgement of scale. David Duke is a racist. Louis Farrakhan is a racist. Hitler was a racist. This poor professor is not.

Ethan D., Assistant Professor of Physics, at 10:35 am EDT on September 14, 2006

This is not unusual

Professors suffering retaliation from intolerant people over test questions and calssroom topics is becoming common. Take the examples of Prof. Stephen Philion at Hamline University who was villified for talking too much about African-American issues in a race and culture class. Or take Prof. Douglas Giles who was actually terminated from Roosevelt University because his department chair objected to a class discussion about Zionism in a comparative religions class. There are people out there who are trying to silence open discussion and critical thinking.

M. Taylor, at 11:05 am EDT on September 14, 2006

you people need to get out more

The fact that so many of this publication’s readers seem to be eager to excuse this give ammunition to the David Horowitzes of this world. Obviously it isn’t Dr. Rice’s ethnicity that makes her a target, but her conservatism. If the instructor involved is really this clueless it is indicative of the narrow enclave he lives in....

dorothy, no fan of the Bush administration, at 11:31 am EDT on September 14, 2006

I suppose it is the principle of the thing, not the weeks pay. How about, the weeks pay goes toward disadvantaged students and under-represented group recruitment and retention, and perhaps stipends for buying books. The other thought is, the administrators that decided the loss of a weeks pay should also be aware that their actions/decision is objectionable to some. They should also forefit a months pay, as should all higher administrators who reviewed the decision — all going toward helping students. Enough posturing. The whole self-rightous bunch that think making someone else pay will solve the problem(s)needs to start with themselves. Pay-up “people".

RJH, at 12:00 pm EDT on September 14, 2006

Race to Judgment

On April 5, 1968, the morning after Martin Luther King was murdered, I encountered Thelma in one of the college’s hallways. Thelma was a “black” woman working in house service, and I was a young “white” teacher of English. (Thelma wasn’t really “black” and I’ve never been really “white.”) We recognized each other, saw the pain in each other’s eyes, and began to embrace, both of us soon crying. A young “black” man came up and wrenched at my shoulder, pulling me away from my colleague-in-grief: “Are you all right, Thelma?” he demanded, glaring at me with anger.

Three years ago, while picketing in protest of my college’s career of censorship and repression, I had occasion to be talking to a “black” young woman, Adrian, in front of the library. It was our second encounter, and I was explaining to her what the latest outrage against the Bill of Rights perpetrated by Macomb’s administration involved. At the conclusion of our conversation, we closed in a hug. Just then a highly indignant “black” administrator ran from the library and seized the woman’s shoulder: “Are you okay?!”

While unsettled by these racist outbursts, it never occurred to me to require apologies or to seek termination of these persons’ livelihoods. Was I wrong to let these gentlemen go, uncorrected?

John C. Bonnell, Professor of English at Macomb Community College, at 12:50 pm EDT on September 14, 2006

I think the question was inappropriate. It was fair that there was some form of penalty, and the professor’s apology sounds sincere. So it sounds to me as though the incident has been addressed and taken care of.

When I teach foreign language classes, I use the names of public figures in tests all the time. It’s entertaining. Sometimes I make jokes about them. I do not make offensive statements about them, however, and I avoid making statements which are controversial enough to distract attention from the real issues at hand.

One commentator above compares the actual racial slur contained in the Condi/watermelon question, with a (hypothetical) question about Condi/dynamite. The difference between the two is, the second would be a political statement, as opposed to a racial slur. That is an important difference.

I think the dynameite question is funny, and harmless, but I am not sure all of my students would. If I had thought of it myself, I might have posted it to my anonymous blog, which my students don’t know about, but not actually used it on a test.

Professor Zero, at 2:20 pm EDT on September 14, 2006

What a huge, steaming, pile of *comments*! There was NOTHING wrong with the question, and the “offended” student/s should have been told about the First Amendment, and also told to take a reality check. Truth is, we offend others every day in all kinds of ways, and most of us deal with it, unless the comment/action causes serious harm or danger.

Frankly, as a Yankee living in the South, I find the screeches and howls of protest laughable, since anything and everything can now be held to be racist, including what’s on the lunch menu. GET REAL. GET A LIFE. GROW UP.

“Race” isn’t the real problem anymore — it’s massive economic disparity and social exclusion and rigid moralistic hypocrites that we need to fear and fight!

Staff at major U, at 2:50 pm EDT on September 14, 2006

offense

There seems to be a pattern of saying that if a person did something similar in action, motivated by a different political animus, the situation would be different.

On what do people base this?

Wouldn’t it be easier just to argue that there should be no limits on expression, and that people who are offended by anything have no place in a university setting. (When I was in college, nobody that work hard was ever offended.) They have too much time on their hands, and they probably are using “offense” as an excuse to not do real work.

Larry, at 3:40 pm EDT on September 14, 2006

A long-time faculty grievance chair says:

Black people, however highly priviliged, and watermelons? Of course that’s racist.

However, the author of the offensive test question apologized from the heart. Suspending him and docking him a week’s pay seems, as many commentators have pointed out, harsh. A letter of reprimand in his personnel file would have been more appropriate—and would have probably eliminated all this controversy.

Philip, at 8:05 pm EDT on September 14, 2006

I’m curious about the reactions posted here to the test question, particularly those that are not clearly divided along political lines. A number of commenters have stated that the racism is “obvious,” and I’m sure it is to many people, but it seems to me that there may be significant diversity in exposure to various racial epithets. As a relatively young faculty member, trained in the sciences and having lived all my life in the Southwest, I had seriously never been aware of any racial connotation to “watermelons” until earlier this year when my husband (also young and raised in the Southwest, but a scholar in the area of prejudice) explained a derogatory comment to me. I absolutely believe the connotation is there in the cultural and historical fabric of American society, but it simply is not part of my cultural experience, and I suppose it’s fair to say I’m undereducated in this way. I think this is primarily a matter of geography, academic discipline, and cohort. My family is transracial, and prejudices related to Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asians are very strongly on my radar, and even much more “subtle” comments than this one impact me a great deal, but though I’m aware cognitively of the issue, a mention of “watermelons” doesn’t particularly ring a bell to me, except as a sexist reference to a woman’s “melons.” To be honest, the main connotation with “watermelons” to me are primarily that watermelons and eggs were the two things that were consistently dropped off buildings in physics and engineering problems, contests, and demonstrations throughout my science education. They make a big spectacle, the weight of the two is dramatically different so you can demonstrate the non-effect of mass, and there are all sorts of fun, practical engineering tasks that can challenge students in trying to protect the falling body. One factor that I haven’t seen considered in the discussion here is that the dropping watermelon is a classic science experiment, whereas the dropping dynamite (or most other objects) is not.

So as a scientist, I’d say the issue here is clearly who is holding the watermelon rather than the fact that the item dropped IS a watermelon. Pleading ignorant of cultural stereotypes is not an excuse, and I do agree that this is offensive. The main questions for me are 1) to what extent one can attribute intent in this case, 2) to what extent were conscious and unconscious motivations connecting the watermelon and race, and 3) given regional, cohort, and disciplinary differences, is it possible that the professor in question really didn’t KNOW the connotation, either consciously or subconsciously?

I’m not sure whether ANY of these questions is answerable, no matter how obvious they may seem to some, and for that reason it seems that the college’s response has to be based on the reaction of the community. This seems reasonable in terms of addressing the community outrage, but I’m not sure it’s effective as a disciplinary strategy.

Curious and perhaps ignorant, at 1:45 pm EDT on September 15, 2006

Frankly, the word ‘racist’ is misused too much. In my opinion this was NOT racist. I believe it might have simply been a case of poor taste, at best, but I have heard far far worse among people of color who absolutely HATE the Secretary of State. In fact, I was asked to leave the home of a black family during a visit in Chicago last year, simply because I was defending Secretary Rice and her right to exist as a Republican. Perhaps it was the combination of Condi and myself which initiated the demand that I leave the premises, but certainly it all boiled down to the reality of two black Republican women in da house (although only one actually in the flesh)! It’s hypocritical for black organizations to take offense to this, after their less than friendly acceptance of this brilliant woman...(not myself, but Condi). I feel that a week without pay is probably the most that the college can get away with, since they are certainly up against the wall with expectations from all concerned, to DO something to this professor.However, I don’t feel he was being ‘racist’, and I’m not even sure that it was an offensive question.

Let’s see...if he had only added that the Secretary drops the watermelon on a group of Al Qaeda standing on the street below, he might not have found himsef in this, uh, disruptive situation.I don’t think Republicans, Democrats, black organizations, the ACLU, or even ultra-lib Washingtonians living in Seattle, would have had any objection to the Secretary dropping the watermelon on the terrorists, foiling their plan...as they were most likely about to enter the building to detonate bombs strapped to their chests.

This is not an issue of racism. Clearly this is an issue of language, syntax, and writing. This is an issue of an incomplete sentence and thought...

I say, let the professor keep his weeks pay, accept his apology, and require him to take a college creative writing refresher course in order to improve his word-problem writing skills.

Lillian, at 11:00 am EDT on September 16, 2006