Bias Incidents Reported

A confirmation screenshot that was sent to the Review along with a copy of the Bias Incident Report

In response to the cancellation of the Alpha Phi and Phi Delta Alpha heart disease fundraiser “Phiesta,” The Dartmouth Review has received numerous reports of individuals filing Bias Incident Reports to the Undergraduate Judicial Affairs Office, the Office of Pluralism and Leadership, and Safety and Security. Overall, the tone of these Bias Incident Reports seems to be mocking the cause of the cancellation, indicating frustration among the student body with the fact that a valuable and productive charitable event would be cancelled because of the sensitivity of just one student.

We received the following Bias Incident Report on April 25:

Upon entering Class of ’53 Commons, affectionately known as “Fascist Commons” in the student body, at approximately 2:00pm EST (although time zones are largely a construct of the white capitalist devils) on Friday, April 25, 2014, I was confronted by a deeply disturbing sight. At the vegetarian station and “The [Zionist] Pavilion,” home to Kosher fare, racism reared its ugly head. Apparently, DDS woke up on Friday, strapped on their black polished Nazi boots, and set about engaging in cultural appropriation. The special of the day at the vegetarian station? “Sichuan Fried Green Beans and Tofu.” I recoiled in horror. Beyond the privileged structures and ideologies that inspire culinary cultural appropriation on a day-to-day basis at ’53 Commons, the Sichuan dish was particularly problematic. Absent were the bold flavors, pungency, and spiciness of Sichuan cuisine; in their place, an apparently intentionally offensive white man’s recreation of the flavors of the proud Sichuanese people. Similarly, at “The [Worldwide Zionist Conspiracy to Oppress the People of Palestine] Pavilion,” a dish labeled “Szechuan Chicken” was indistinguishable from the chicken dishes of Hunan Province. It must be very amusing, as privileged white oppressors, to make light of China’s regional diversity. The discrepancy in spelling of “Sichuan/Szechuan Province” underscores the carelessness with which DDS appropriates foreign cultures. Why don’t we all just go throw a “Phiesta” to celebrate the rampant racism at Dartmouth.

In addition, we received an additional report on April 26:

On April 25, 2014 the Alpha Phi sorority and the Phi Delta Alpha fraternity were unjustly forced to cancel a charity event due, in large part, to the efforts of the OPAL Shadow Government Organization of Persecution and Oppression. The aforementioned organization, in accordance with one Daniela Hernandez ’15, claimed that the charity event, labeled “Phiesta,” insinuated racist cultural stereotypes that do not meet the Dartmouth standards of conduct for on-campus organizations. Thus, I would like to file a report against OPAL Shadow Government Organization of Persecution and Oppression, and Daniela Hernandez for a similar breech of standards of conduct for the oppression of a body of students who were forced to cancel an organized and scheduled “protest,” if you will, against the evils of heart disease. The members of Alpha Phi and Phi Delta Alpha were the most directly affected members of the Dartmouth community, but were certainly not the only ones. It has become apparent that students on this campus have lost their right to free speech, largely at the hands of OPAL Shadow Government Organization of Persecution and Oppression. This cannot stand on a campus such as Dartmouth, where freedom of thought is central to the academic goals of this institution.