Last month, Brown University released a 20-page proposal, backed by president Christina H. Paxson. The proposal, Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion Plan: An Action Plan for Brown University, costs over $100 million for a “concrete set of actions to… confront the issues of racism, power, privilege, inequity and injustice.”
Unsurprisingly, the efforts were not enough for students who are willing to turn to outrageous methods of screaming and shouting obscenities to get their way.
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The Daily Beast published a piece on Sunday morning which mostly highlighted an anonymous professor at Brown who has called out the protests. It also entailed what led to such disappointment and dismay.
Students have continued to rage at Brown, which included a “Day of Reclamation” on Dec. 3. The event’s Facebook page does not mince words as, in part, it read:
Subsequent Facebook posts on the event’s page emphasize just how exclusive the event is. The Daily Beast shared the following post in their reporting.
The Daily Beast also pointed to a nearly 12 minute long video from Facebook of the event. Students were not embarrassed to share their barbaric behavior towards university administrators who were trying to engage in dialogue.
Also included is a video from Inform, on some of the protester’s behavior leading up to the drafted proposal.
Paxson is shouted at and interrupted throughout. Certain interruptions included one female student who recognized “we have obligations like being in class,” but claimed “we can’t focus on those things because we have to focus on being alive.”
Another student called to disarm the campus police referred to as DPS, and claimed that if the university “value[s] black students,” they would give in to the demand to “Disarm DPS,” and would respond with “Okay, I’ll disarm DPS.” If only it were that simple to get what you wanted.
Another response from a male student almost sounds like something out of the Onion, as he fumbles through an answer after incorrectly assuming the sexual orientation of the provost:
When Locke appears to correct him and say he is not heterosexual, the student responds, “Well, homosexual, it don’t matter. White males are at the top of the hierarchy. Cis gender white males are at the top of the hierarchy.”
Locke and Paxson didn’t stand a chance, especially if they thought they could actually have a conversation with these students, who demanded to be heard, but refused to listen.
And, this is where the anonymous professor came in. While the professor has his own problems with the drafted proposal, he saw it as a “good faith” effort. And thus, he found what took place in the video “disturbing” and “very discouraging.” The professor said that he “badly misread the situation,” and that he is “sort of stunned by it,” as he “thought the draft plan would quell the anger.”
The professor is not pleased, needless to say. The Daily Beast reports:
The mood, he said, is akin to that during Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s “Red Scare” hunt for communists.
“I think there’s a looking around to find injustices whether or not they exist,” he said. “That’s what feels like McCarthyism. You’re looking for communists, whether or not they’re there. You’re determined to find some. That’s what McCarthy was doing. It does feel like people are looking for things whether or not they’re there.”
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At the same time, this hunt for injustice conducted in the name of promoting diversity and inclusion has overshadowed what this professor views as pressing concerns about intellectual diversity at Brown.
“If we’re going to have a serious conversation about diversity, it should include intellectual diversity, ideological diversity,” he said. To him, the plan for diversity and inclusion “absolutely doesn’t.”
These unruly and disrespectful students thrive off of fearful university administrators, as has already been shown. For the sake of the reputation and quality of the university, these administrators need to show these students who is in charge.
