'I Don't Know What We're Protesting'

By Steven Menashi and Alexander Nazaryan | Tuesday, November 10, 1998

Thursday night, in a Dartmouth community forum entitled 'What is 'Ghetto,'' English Professor William Cook chastised the 'myth of political correctness,' saying 'Free speech is the last refuge of scoundrels.' The idea of freedom of expression, he said, is nothing more than the 'freedom to be rude. . . . Political correctness is good manners.' Asked one student after the speech, 'so the College should punish us for bad manners?' Cook would seem to think so; he advocated that the Collge redouble its efforts regarding 'education in moral and ethical standards.'

Cook called free speech advocates 'boorish and rude.' Free speech should be restricted, he said, because the notion that 'the power of the word' can counteract offensive statements is 'nonsense. . . . There is no 'power of the word.'' Cook's comment led many students to question the purpose of the forum. 'If words have no power, anyway,' wondered one student, 'what's wrong with using the word, 'ghetto'?'

Cook argued that the 'boorish' cannot be excused because they apologize. Many brothers of Chi Gamma Epsilon were left confused at what they could do to rectify their situation. Their bewilderment turned to shock when Cook exhorted the crowd to 'laugh at the evil people,' 'scorn them,' and '[laugh] at the fools that they are.'

'So much for good manners,' responded an oberver. One minority student later commented that he was offended by the ghetto party, but more offended by the response. 'It's an unfair reaction,' he said. 'They're being just as insensitive as Chi Gam was.'

Leah Threatte '00, who spoke next, said she thought that the 'ignorant' students were the real victims. 'I think it hurts your own development,' she said, directing her comments to ghetto party participants. Citing her own privileged background, Threatte said, 'I still don't know what the ghetto is.' Nevertheless, she remains confident that it's 'not funny' and takes offense at the ghetto party because of her identification with the ghetto populace.

Reginald Belhomme '00 discussed his experiences growing up in 'the hood,' which elicited applause from the crowd. Many took exception to the presentation of Jessica Marshall '01, however. Marshall identified 'mean-spirited jokes' that demeaned Jews as the root cause of the Holocaust.

'Thoughts lead to actions and words lead to deeds,' she said. 'We need to make sure that these words can't be spoken.' Some students were incensed by Marshall's comparing Dartmouth to Nazi Germany. Others disagreed with her support of censorship.

Kesner Bienvenu '99, the final student speaker, said that the majority should be 'forced to learn the ways of the minority. . . . Just as Karl Marx said,' Bienvenu intoned, 'in order for there to be change, there needs to be a revolution.' One forum attendee took exception to the language. 'This is way out of proportion to what happened,' she said.

Geography professor Richard Wright, who also was a panelist, said that he wanted to 'talk about issues in the classroom: sensitivity to race, how race and research in the classroom environment can be brought together.' However, many students were incredulous at Wright's speech, in which he said that white students feel privileged because they are not forced to deal with racial issues.

'I do not feel the least bit privileged to be white,' protested one student after the forum. 'Not once in my life have I said to myself, 'Thank God I am white,' nor will I ever say it. I am not privileged by being white.'

Wright argued that the existence of ghettoes is a symptom of a 'wholly racialized world.' He said he wanted people to address questions like 'why middle class blacks choose voluntarily to live in segregated neighborhoods.'

In the discussion following the forum, one student said she was unsurprised by the phenomenon and pointed to all-minority fraternities and African-American affinity housing as evidence of self-segregation.

Though the evening's presentation was met with applause, some students found it discomforting and harsh. 'I was thoroughly disgusted and offended,' said one student, 'as a minority and as a human being by the extremely narrow views that each and every panelist perpetrated to the audience tonight.'

Another observed, '[Professor] Cook finished his statement by saying that the oppressed need 'to laugh' at the boorish, dismissive oppressors but in reality, the unwillingness of opposite races to laugh is a crucial reason why we have the situation right now.'

Landis Fryer '99, an event organizer and spokesman, argued that 'when you use things that you don't know about, it seems as though you're mocking it.' Though Fryer suggested that the College screen applicants for hints of racism, he observed, 'I think race relations here are fine.' The forum and demonstrations are meant solely 'to get people thinking and talking.'

Still, a participant in the forum saw signs of repression in the forum's speeches. ''Free speech is a refuge for scoundrels,'' she said, 'to hear a professor say that, that's pretty scary.'

The controversy that prompted the forum involves a a number of controversial incidents, the most prominent of which was a Chi Gamma Epsilon party that was themed 'ghetto.' The fraternity advertised a 'hip-hop gangsta' setting. Many on campus were offended by the theme and by costumes worn by party-goers.

In last Tuesday's Daily Dartmouth, Nicole Vanatko '01 published a column entitled, 'What is a Ghetto Party, Anyway?' The column called attention to the party and berated the fraternity for its apparent lack of sensitivity. Vanatko, who was at the party, described it as a mockery of African-Americans and the experience of inner-city dwellers living in poverty.

On Monday, a letter to the editor from Mia Hockett '99 and Christopher Nybo '99 appeared in The Daily Dartmouth. The letter endorsed Vanatko's analysis of the party, again alleging pervasive ignorance and insensitivity at Dartmouth.

Shauna Brown '99 added her thoughts to the debate the following Wednesday in a guest column, 'An Invitation.' Though she neglected to identify any specific expressions of hate on campus, she deemed the campus hateful and offensive. Brown termed Dartmouth 'a campus that does not address the root of the problem' and claimed that 'voices on this campus are silenced daily as issues are dismissed as irrational, over-sensitive, and not important. The Dartmouth community must not only acknowledge those voices, but actually hear them.' In the face of two rallies that week, Brown seemed to demand not just tolerance, but agreement with her views.

Whether or not the entire campus agrees with these accusers is unclear. Student demonstrations of opposition to racial insensitivity, however, have been numerous.

On Monday night, a procession of students silently walked to Thayer Dining Hall, and stood there in protest. They distributed flyers that read, 'SILENCE gets in the way and OPPRESSES us ALL.'

The flyers advertised a rally on the Green to occur Wednesday afternoon and invited students to attend the Thursday forum.

Some diners were unmoved by the protest and failed to grasp the issues at hand. Some protesters did, too.

When asked the purpose of the demonstration, one protester replied 'We're not quite sure what we're protesting. You should ask Rahsaan [Sales '99].' We did; Sales refused comment.

The campus has also been plastered with a slew of posters bearing 'anti-hate' messages. One says, 'Insult us again. We dare you.' Another: 'you will RESPECT me.' Still another: 'Challenge your friends the next time you hear a racist, classist or homophobic joke. If not you, then who?'

A public letter of apology from Chi Gam president Andrew Cohen '99 seems to have done little to calm campus activists.

In a follow-up to the Thayer Hall protest, two hundred and thity-nine students assembled Wednesday afternoon and held hands in a large circle spanning the Green. In doing so, they walked out of their 11-hour classes five minutes early.

The protesters cited other examples of insensitivity. A Gamma Delta Chi brother reportedly appeared with his face painted in the likeness of an African-American at a party jointly sponsored by that fraternity and Alpha Phi Alpha.

Moreover, many students were provoked by a T-shirt advertising the Dartmouth-Yale football game. The T-shirt depicted a bulldog fellating an Indian and read, 'Yale Sucks.' A forum held last Saturday at Cutter-Shabbazz Hall addressed these incidents.

'This is an issue that affects the Dartmouth community beyond Alianza, AAm, NAD, Africaso, KASA, DAO, DRA etc etc,' wrote Vanessa Ferro '99 in a widely-distributed email. 'This is something that we need to come together to deal with as individuals living together under the Dartmouth Principle of Community.'

Many students remained concerned, however, about the impact that enforcing such principles of community might have on free expression.

'I Don't Know What We're Protesting'

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