I read the article and it was shoddy reporting in the sense that I dont' quite know the story...
As near as I can tell, there is a minority group protesting and calling for all whites to leave campus for a day?
Or is it the administration calling for all whites to leave campus for a day?
Regardless, that is wrong.
If there is a problem, sure, students have the right to protest. But no group has the right or authority to order another group not to be on campus. And this goes double for a racially motivated order regardless of race...
I did read the professors letter, very eloquent and I stand behind him (for whatever that is worth, admittedly not much)
Dear Rashida,
When you first described the new structure for Day of Absence / Day of Presence at a past faculty meeting (where no room was left for questions), I thought I must have misunderstood what you said. Later emails seemed to muddy the waters further, while inviting commitments to participate. I now see from the boldfaced text in this email that I had indeed understood your words correctly.
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 (the theme of the Douglas Turner Ward play Day of Absence, as well as the recent Women’s Day walkout), and a group or coalition encouraging another group to go away. The first is a forceful call to consciousness which is, of course, crippling to the logic of oppression. The second is a show of force, and an act of oppression in and of itself.
You may take this letter as a formal protest of this year’s structure, and you may assume I will be on campus on the Day of Absence. I would encourage others to put phenotype aside and reject this new formulation, whether they have ‘registered’ for it already or not. On a college campus, one’s right to speak — or to be — must never be based on skin color.
If there was interest in a public presentation and discussion of race through a scientific / evolutionary lens, I would be quite willing to organize such an event (it is material I have taught in my own programs, and guest lectured on at Evergreen and elsewhere). Everyone would be equally welcome and encouraged to attend such a forum, irrespective of ethnicity, belief structure, native language, political leanings, or position at the college. My only requirement would be that people attend with an open mind, and a willingness to act in good faith.
If there is interest in such a event, please let me know …
