By Kyle Smith
At both Harvard and Columbia this fall we’ve seen how students who dare to privately act out against PC standards are inspiring crazed nuclear strikes from campus administrators. This disproportionate punishment is, in turn, bound to create both more rebels flouting norms and more wusses and tattletales passive-aggressively seizing power by parading their phony wounds.
At Harvard, the administration vaporized the men’s soccer season this year because the guys privately commented on the sexual appeal of their female peers, in jokey and disparaging language, in a document shared on Google Groups. The six women they were talking about later wrote, in a melodramatic group op-ed, that they “brushed off the news as if it didn’t really matter” until the publicity hubbub trained them to be gravely offended — “hopeless,” “appalled,” “distraught” — just as toddlers who fall down at the playground tend not to cry unless their mothers fly over to make a fuss, in which case they reliably burst into tears.
At Columbia, a bunch of sour fruitcakes running a campus blog invaded the privacy of members of the wrestling team by publishing their private text messages, apparently leaked by a whistleblower who confused bro talk with the Pentagon Papers. I won’t defend the crass and juvenile messages. Some contained the N-word and others included derisive comments about women’s looks, though none of this was harassment. Standing outside someone’s window calling out rude names is harassment. Exchanging jibes with a friend about people who aren’t there is more like gossip.
Columbia’s immediate response was, like Harvard’s, as dumb as treating your toe fungus by sawing off your foot. The entire wrestling team was initially suspended. What about innocent athletes who had nothing to do with the texts? Sorry, as in the Red Queen’s court in “Alice in Wonderland,” Columbia went with punishment first, trial afterwards. The administration was taking its cues from the student blog, which screamed that the messages revealed a “Culture of Intolerance.”
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Harvard's attempt to get rid of the unofficial men's Finals Clubs has at least met some backlash this past year. A lot of alumni are pretty pissed off (including some alumni that I personally know) and there's been some backlash from faculty who have some backbone as well. Whats comical about the situation is Harvard is now trying to disband women's only organizations as well, and the little female buttercups affected are now upset about it- the very same people who claim there is a rape culture at these men's clubs and think only the all men's groups should be disbanded.
ReplyDeleteLiving in eastern MA surrounded by these people can be frustrating, but I often get a good laugh too.