Letters: An Online Forum/HKS Talent Show
by The Editors on April 29, 2008 in Opinion
Dear Sir:
For two years I have told friends from home that HKS is a place that guards the free exchanges of ideas, thoughts and speech from the ivory tower’s battlements. Last week that changed. An institution that defends speech turned its back on speech and its own students, condemning things said at the HKS talent show. I hang my head.
Two years ago, in his address to incoming students, David Ellwood noted the upcoming visit from Mohammad Khatami, the former president of Iran. Ellwood indicated he very strongly disagreed with some of Khatami’s comments in the past, but that we would trust our ideas and our students’ ability to judge for themselves.
I now find my fellow students – the same students trusted to judge the wisdom of Khatami’s words – told by the same administration that they should apologize for their jokes. Their jokes. Open arms welcomed Mohammad Khatami (who then said, “homosexual activity is a crime in Islam…And crimes are punishable…The fact that could crimes [sic] be punished by execution is debatable…”), but we condemn for their jokes students who have records of unblemished excellence at HKS.
Unblemished until now. For speaking in an academic environment – one designed to protect thought and speech above all else – these students have been humiliated. They have been berated and belittled in public, and even in the most sacred of student sanctuaries: the classroom.
I haven’t any idea why most of you continued this far into academia, but I did not persist to see the kingdom seat of academia betray and buffet its students for pointless jest or truthful satire.
What precisely are these students being condemned for? For saying things that were untrue or saying things that were true? If it is the former, they deserve no disparagement, and HKS has proven the stereotype that ivies are overreactive and stodgy. But if it is the latter, then we have a much more serious problem: avoidance of unpleasant fact. If this is the case, we are perilously close to offering up truth on the altar of feel-goodery. Shall we proffer as sacrificial kindling to the gods of political correctness that which our crest lauds? Veritas.
Writing this, I was plagued by thoughts of the potential consequences. But that’s the point. That any among us would worry that honest thought might yield disciplinary action betrays exactly where we lie on the spectrum of academic freedom: significantly closer to the edge than I imagined two weeks ago. Again, I hang my head.
Josh Manning (MPP2)
Dear Sir:
Even the smallest ethnic and racial microagressions have the power to pierce the heart with the same gravity as overt racism. Seemingly insignificant acts have broader implications, and too often we underestimate the power of words to touch nerves.
One reason the “Leveraged News Hour” invoked so much tension was not only the distaste some audience members felt during the act, it was the aftermath of suspicion and defensiveness that overshadowed a proactive effort to understand one another. The way the entire community grappled with the situation – or ignored it – is part of the problem.
We overlook that it is a privilege to be indifferent and insensitive to such painful words, and the ideas behind them. We tell ourselves that someone else will deal with such problems. People will get over it. I’ve heard fellow students say: “I feel bad, but it didn’t affect me. I don’t have to be involved.” However, by not jeopardizing our own comfort, we lose the opportunity of learning how to be more culturally competent leaders.
Should we be surprised that the HKS community is wary of diversity issues and the difficult conversations they require? Should students of color or women be surprised that the burden of responsibility to raise awareness and ask provoking questions rests on their shoulders when almost nine in ten of our professors are Caucasian and 74% are male? Has there really been a moment of reckoning – of deep, authentic understanding in the aftermath of this debate?
I don’t intend to indict individuals. Rather, I want to call our general indifference into question. What will it take to realize that there are systemic, divisive realities in our community that foster hurt? What will it take to realize that oppression begins with an internalized acceptance of stereotypes? Will we be prepared when the test comes to break these misconceptions? Or will we sit on the sidelines because “It’s not our issue?”
I have had the privilege of collaborating with alumni, faculty, staff and students to bring the Diversity Committee Briefing Book into HKS’ institutional memory. Yet, like many people, I will graduate in a month with many unsettling questions about diversity still unanswered. My hope is that the strategic plan we proposed and the questions this incident has raised will be catalysts for us all to move beyond settling for just the appearance of diversity. I believe we can aspire for true understanding.
Angela Landameo, MPP2
Comments
Got something to say?
