Post by blackcrowheart on Mar 31, 2008 13:57:57 GMT -5
Forum Editorial: No excuses for student behavior
Published Sunday, March 30, 2008
Two entertainment staples from the past come to mind while shaking one’s head over recent student gaffes at the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University.
The first is from the 1950s Disney classic, “Peter Pan,” which features an astonishingly offensive stereotypical depiction of American Indians, complete with the jaw-dropping ditty and dance, “Why is the Red Man Red?” It does not get more insulting to native peoples than that animated few minutes.
The second is Al Jolson’s belting out “To My Mammy” in blackface in one of the more famous movie scenes of all time from the 1930 film “Mammy.”
A few days ago a group connected to a UND sorority staged a party that included apparently booze-lubricated and face- and body-painted students dressed up as Native Americans. The video and other pictures that eventually were posted in all the usual places showed hootin’, hollerin’ and “Indian” dancing.
At NDSU, the white students from the Saddle and Sirloin Club, one of the oldest student organizations on campus, painted up in blackface to recreate a video about Barack Obama that has been popular on the Internet. It features a lap dance and two cowboys in the background simulating sex.
Student leaders, advisers and campus administrators have been falling all over themselves the past few days with apologies. While the apologies are more than appropriate, the circumstances that led to the two incidents need greater scrutiny.
What’s wrong here?
The “kids-will-be-kids” excuse won’t fly. These are college students, not junior high students. By the time a young person qualifies to enroll on a college campus, he or she should have enough good sense to develop sensibilities about stereotypes, racism and offensive depictions. Moreover, the adult advisers to such organizations have an even greater responsibility to put a stop to any activity that wanders into that realm.
While neither incident gets a pass, the UND stunt was especially demeaning in light of the school’s ongoing conflict over the Fighting Sioux logo and nickname.
At NDSU, an adviser tried to make the case that the kids were insensitive because most of them are from small towns with little diversity. That ploy is insulting to the kids. It suggests that somehow their development has been arrested because they grew up in small towns. Nonsense. Small-town students are as connected to the wider world today as are their big-city counterparts. Communications and technology expose them to race and culture and every other aspect of societal diversity.
The blame rests with the UND and NDSU students. Sanctions should fall on them and the organizations that sponsored the events. Pleading ignorance won’t do. Given the character of the events, the students knew exactly what they were doing and did it anyway.
Published Sunday, March 30, 2008
Two entertainment staples from the past come to mind while shaking one’s head over recent student gaffes at the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University.
The first is from the 1950s Disney classic, “Peter Pan,” which features an astonishingly offensive stereotypical depiction of American Indians, complete with the jaw-dropping ditty and dance, “Why is the Red Man Red?” It does not get more insulting to native peoples than that animated few minutes.
The second is Al Jolson’s belting out “To My Mammy” in blackface in one of the more famous movie scenes of all time from the 1930 film “Mammy.”
A few days ago a group connected to a UND sorority staged a party that included apparently booze-lubricated and face- and body-painted students dressed up as Native Americans. The video and other pictures that eventually were posted in all the usual places showed hootin’, hollerin’ and “Indian” dancing.
At NDSU, the white students from the Saddle and Sirloin Club, one of the oldest student organizations on campus, painted up in blackface to recreate a video about Barack Obama that has been popular on the Internet. It features a lap dance and two cowboys in the background simulating sex.
Student leaders, advisers and campus administrators have been falling all over themselves the past few days with apologies. While the apologies are more than appropriate, the circumstances that led to the two incidents need greater scrutiny.
What’s wrong here?
The “kids-will-be-kids” excuse won’t fly. These are college students, not junior high students. By the time a young person qualifies to enroll on a college campus, he or she should have enough good sense to develop sensibilities about stereotypes, racism and offensive depictions. Moreover, the adult advisers to such organizations have an even greater responsibility to put a stop to any activity that wanders into that realm.
While neither incident gets a pass, the UND stunt was especially demeaning in light of the school’s ongoing conflict over the Fighting Sioux logo and nickname.
At NDSU, an adviser tried to make the case that the kids were insensitive because most of them are from small towns with little diversity. That ploy is insulting to the kids. It suggests that somehow their development has been arrested because they grew up in small towns. Nonsense. Small-town students are as connected to the wider world today as are their big-city counterparts. Communications and technology expose them to race and culture and every other aspect of societal diversity.
The blame rests with the UND and NDSU students. Sanctions should fall on them and the organizations that sponsored the events. Pleading ignorance won’t do. Given the character of the events, the students knew exactly what they were doing and did it anyway.