There is another controversy on an American campus after a professor objected to a plan that involved excluding whites from campus. Evergreen State College biology professor Bret Weinstein made a reasoned objection to the plan for this year’s “Day of Absence” on campus. In prior years, people of color would leave the campus to highlight their contribution to the school. This year, it was proposed that whites should leave campus and Weinstein objected to the obvious unfairness of such a race-based exclusion. The result, as shown in the videotape below, was a mob scene around Weinstein as students called him a racist and called for his resignation. Protests have denounced his “anti-blackness” and demanded his removal from teaching.
Weinstein made a rather obvious objection an email to a plan to exclude people from campus based on the race:
“There is a huge difference between a group or coalition deciding to voluntarily absent themselves from a shared space in order to highlight their vital and under appreciated roles … and a group or coalition encouraging another group to go away . . . I would encourage others to put phenotype aside and reject this new formulation … On a college campus, one’s right to speak—or to be—must never be based on skin color.”
That position led to Weinstein being surrounded outside of his office where he tried to have a dialogue and even instructed the students about the “difference between debate and dialectic.” He noted that “Debate means you are trying to win, dialectic means you are using disagreement to discover what is true. I am not interested in debate. I am only interested in dialectic, which does mean I listen to you, and you listen to me.”
That did not go over well with a student objecting to his saying “racist sh-t.” Another said “We don’t care what terms you want to speak on. This is not about you. We are not speaking on terms—on terms of white privilege. This is not a discussion. You have lost that one.”
Anger grew when Weinstein denied that black students have been targeted by faculty. He insisted that “I do not believe that anybody on our faculty, with intent, specially targets students of color.”
Students proceeded to protest with chants “Hey hey! Ho ho! Bret Weinstein has got to go!”
Just as a reminder, this is all because Weinstein voiced his view that excluding whites from campus was wrong.
The college issued a statement praising the “intense and useful conversation with a group of students.” I am less positive about the scene below or the underlying dispute. Weinstein is correct that the proposed exclusion of students and faculty based on their race is deeply troubling and wrong. The response from the students was insulting, uncivil, and abusive. I would have hoped for a stronger statement in support of this faculty member in his right to express his views and a categorical rejection of the demand for the termination of Weinstein.
What do you think?
This is out of control – why should any student have to leave campus because of the race they were born with. Kudos to this professor! This group has every right to celebrate their being of color but don’t alienate non people of color. The campus belongs to all the students what they are doing is so hypocritical .
Youtube pulled the video for “harassment and bullying” so I loaded it on my Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7adR1mUrVBobllSSEc4ZWNJZWc/view
Prof. Turley’s main point of deception and spin is trying to dissociate the Democrat party from the actions of its leadership and membership. These are ordinary rank and file Democrats that are advocating the decapitatuon of the sitting president and murder of the professor and his wife for the sin of being white. Prof. Turkey doth protest too much.
Wow. This story just keeps on getting more and more bizarre and ridiculous. What may be missing from the story is who is manipulating these young kids behind the scenes. This type of deliberately orchestrated smear attack on a progressive smacks of COINTELPRO activity, and is very likely the work of TESC’s foremost COINTELPRO “activist” and agent provocateur, TESC uberprofessor Pete Bohmer. If you watch the video of the meeting with the College President, Bohmer is the white haired old dude in the back standing up egging on his PC Storm Troopers to even greater acts of PC fascist zealotry. For over 30 years Bohmer has been working for his COINTELPRO handlers channelling and directing all the tin foil hat wearing SJW activism at TESC into forms that make a mockery of real political action and which discredit and obstruct any serious or effective change. In Bohmer’s own words…Cointlepro is a program coordinated by the FBI to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit or otherwise neutralize” individuals and groups….Looks like Bohmer and his COINTELPRO handlers’ work has been accomplished at TESC with this nutty farce.
Found two news articles, one in The Olympian which seems authoritative.
I suppose it is hard for members of so-called minorities to have to interact with WASPs all the time…
This ridiculous behavior is just a symptom of the bigger problem. Most young people of today don’t seem to have ANY respect for anyone else, including their parents, teachers, elders, and police. They think they are ‘even’ with everyone-despite the differences in education,age and experience. Most of these situations that end up tv fodder can be traced back to a person or group being disrespectful to someone of authority or experience over them. And the fact the police are told to stand down to this aggressive and threatening behavior is society’s further permission to be disrespectful, and that it works. Way to go liberal lefters. This is a whole generation. Wonder how their kids are going to be…
Jonathan Haidt now has a piece up about this incident, and its larger context:
http://heterodoxacademy.org/2017/05/27/this-weeks-witch-hunt/
Still, I think many people (who don’t really want a dictatorship of the “marginalized”) don’t see that this craziness on campus is a real threat.
Funny when people supposedly against racism do their best to continue racism.
I couldn’t find a reliable news source for this item.
The Olympia paper has a story about occupying the president’s office.
Would that be the main stream providers of news maybe not reporting things?
Found some of it via WaPo but most of it seems to come solely from the Washington Times and so is not to be trusted.
Evergreen State College is blight on Washington State and Olympia, the once beautiful capital city. Almost two decades ago, I moved out of downtown Olympia to escape increasingly violent demonstrations by Evergreen thugs. When I visited Olympia recently, there were many boarded up store windows from the most recent May Day protests. Although very few Evergreen students participate in the violence, the college is the source of the problem. All Washington taxpayers are forced to fund this terrorist training center in the capital city.
Evergreen State College is off to the west of Olympia.
The professor is correct, this is racist. The students are idiots.
We’ve gone off the cliff.
Can we abolish affirmative action now?
Can we heal American education of the disease of teachers unions?
Can we end the unconstitutional governmental skewing of student loan markets?
Can we compel students to study and perpetuate their uneducated silence.
Even psycho-babbling liberals can no longer deny the failure of the dictatorship of collectivism.
Can Ameirca “Let Freedom Ring” now?
“Now, Weinstein’s reportedly been told to avoid campus because his safety is at risk.”
Is his safety at risk? Well?
If so. . .
Fire up the cell phone video, during the recording he needs to exclaim that he feels his life is being threatened, then fire up the HK, Glock, S&W. etc.
Do you think that non-whites have felt/been threatened by a white majority? Do you suppose that people like you are also threatening them now and assailing them on social media? You can bet on it.
While these student’s actions are very wrong, they are also very sad. Stopping racism isn’t accomplished by separating people by skin melanin content. The point is to come together for a common good. Apparently, the idea of working together for the common good is entirely lost on these people.
It’s good for the oligarchy to have people be this stupid and self absorbed. They are excellent servants and they can be counted on to hinder people coming together for a shared good. Mission Accomplished!
The bigots who denounce him need to be put on a pedestal and then worshiped by their flock. Then when they graduate they can go teach in Liberia.
These students have been enabled all their lives in order to come to
believe as they do The far-left philosophies of current college campuses encourages this enablement
Do not miss the real life video at the bottom of this story. It is unbelievable!!! WHOA!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-26/they-believe-i-was-being-sought-police-tell-professor-avoid-campus-protesters-seek-h
Thanks for the article Jill. “the Trans & Queer Unity Lounge” ?!- nuff said =) Seriously, this insanity on campuses is getting out of control.
Fixed it 😉 Seriously, this insanity on campuses is out of control.
Imagine if the white students ask the non-white students to leave the campus the Uproar that would cause if I were a parent of a black or white student and this professor was fired I would pull my child out of school
That’s what they’ve been doing for several years: the non-white students, faculty and staff would leave campus. Read the article.
Maybe you should read the article again. The non-white students left on thier own accord. The non-non-white students DID NOT ask them to leave. Completely changes the context.