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[egilson]

I'm rather disappointed that because my classes did not read the damn book that's been assigned and talked about since August found themselves behind in their studies, we didn't get to talk today about such things as Jesus giving Catherine of Siena his foreskin as a wedding ring. I find the (fairly common) human penchant for responding to the stress of having to negotiate life and society by imaginatively mixing of the vulgar, the spiritual, the sincere, and the shocking to be endlessly fascinating. I suppose I had better find some way to deal with students who will be offended by such events, though, since giving them a pitying look and saying, "I feel sorry for you," probably isn't appropriate.

[janetajanet]

It's interesting to me how quick people are with such minimal information to determine that the student has no possible valid reason to be upset.  When issues are highly relevant to individuals, opinions and views can be a lot more nuanced than pro-internet hate groups and against-internet hate groups.

If for example someone in my family had been killed or injured in a racially motivated attack, I might be upset if some lecturer who earns a living studying this type of thing said in the course of his or her discussion what a "fascinating" topic it is.  Or if I felt personally threatened by video clips of a person expression the wish that, say, me and people like me be burned alive, and someone who has no personal experience of this makes a comment that comes across as flippant about it - I might be upset.

It might be valuable to actually ask your student what happened without deciding beforehand that she's wrong.

[prytania3]

It's interesting to me how quick people are with such minimal information to determine that the student has no possible valid reason to be upset.  When issues are highly relevant to individuals, opinions and views can be a lot more nuanced than pro-internet hate groups and against-internet hate groups.

If for example someone in my family had been killed or injured in a racially motivated attack, I might be upset if some lecturer who earns a living studying this type of thing said in the course of his or her discussion what a "fascinating" topic it is.  Or if I felt personally threatened by video clips of a person expression the wish that, say, me and people like me be burned alive, and someone who has no personal experience of this makes a comment that comes across as flippant about it - I might be upset.

It might be valuable to actually ask your student what happened without deciding beforehand that she's wrong.

I'm going with JanetaJanet on this one.

I didn't hear the presentation, but I can see how it might have a racist subtext that might not be visible to the liberal white eye; moreover, if it's true there's no such thing as bad publicity, then it doesn't matter if Dr. Guest was denouncing it. Paradoxically, he was still promoting it. Also, there was no balance. It was just the neo Nazi skinheads crusading against blacks. They actually crusade against a lot of people, but did he balance it out be talking about the problems Black Muslims have with Jews? Or the problems Mexicans and blacks are having in LA? Or the anti-white Latino gangs? Even though he denounced it, a student could hear: You are still the victim. We *good* white people have to protect you from the *bad* white people.

I'm not saying we should ignore things that are detestable, but at least round out the picture.

[zombie]

So the update on the class:  I used the video linked early on and the linked article on "How to be Offended" to introduce the idea that sometimes, especially in a Lib Arts class, you might be offended by something (since the Lib Arts deal with humans & humans are often offensive.)  One of the things I thought that the video did well was distinguish between what someone said and what they are.  Just because someone is talking about racism doesn't mean they are a racist.  And, while people have a right to be offended (for whatever reason, from "she's clueless" to "she's been exposed personally to extreme racism directed against her" they also are in a college where this could happen again.  And so, from the perspective of the "how to be a college student" class-- what do you do when this happens?  Walk out?  Call someone something offensive yourself?  What if you have a legitimate case?  Etc.  I stressed, repeatedly, that I thought what happened was a failure to shift gears properly.  A very bright student brought up that in her speech class, her teacher has told her if you elicit an emotional response to something, you have to give your audience somewhere to go with that.  And since the only emotion he elicted, over and over again, was fear or anger, where COULD someone go with that?

Too many slides with strongly visual hate messages (and yes, I believe they were there as a way of building research and proving the case that these groups are increasingly savvy and secretive and scary) that did not necessarily have a "so what". 

So I asked students to get into groups & discuss how the presentation could have done it differently.  And many of the students came up with exactly the same things ya'll are doing on here... the same arguments for and against.  And I found that more students than had been obvious were offended, for some of the same reasons Louisa has been offended by the idea of this content in this course. 

The main thing that I thought was good about the discussion is that they suggested how to “fix” the presentation’s “offense”.  They said “show how this work in Criminal Justice brings these people TO justice.”  What are you doing to fix it, to monitor it, to change it?  What about hate crimes bills?  Etc.
 
So in my book, they were actually very prepared to discuss things like good Lib Arts majors as long as it didn’t feel aggressively shoved down their throats and there was room for discussion.  It may be a danger of the “Powerpoint  in a dark room” effect, too. 

Finally, I doubt Stu Dent would apologize to Dr. Guest.  I don’t think she’s still convinced he’s NOT a racist, and I’m not exactly sure how me trying to force that would be in any way productive.

Now, for the student who after class confronted me and wanted me to excuse HIS racism  with an after-class discussion which had me backing away and not knowing HOW to talk to him.... that’s a different story.   So students at this age are clueless in multiple ways, but they really do want to learn.  And unfortunately, perhaps the content of the show hit this different student in exactly the way the original Stu Dent was protesting—as recruitment to these groups.  Sigh.   

All in all, it was a can of worms.     Not exactly the presentation I was expecting, but we’ll see how it goes from here.

It was a very productive way to shift the focus of the course from the dull but informative "this is how you highlight a textbook and study for exams" part of the course to the part where we will actually discuss issues in the Lib Arts (primarily, postmodernism).  And get them really talking, instead of looking at me with sleepy bored eyes.  I wouldn't have planned it this way but it worked out well in the end.

[anthroid]

Very well done, Zombie.  Though I usually hate the phrase (especially when uttered by college presidents who have never been in the classroom), you took this "teachable moment" and really taught the students something about productive problem-solving.

Brava.

[locutus]

Sounds like you handled a tough situation pretty well.

[moonwort]

Zombie, you created a good class, rather than gave in to the potential chaos of discussing this type of material.

I particularly am glad that you broke the group down. I too have found students will admit to feeling uncomfortable in a smaller group of their peers than in a large class with everyone facing the professor.

Finally, I would still suggest you meet with Stu Dent privately to find out exactly what she was bothered by. Based on that discussion, you can feel out whether or not the suggestion of an apology to your guest would be heard. She may even come up with the idea herself.

Great work!

[kedves]

If you think that your students would like to know more, the Not in Our Town site has a variety of student, teacher, and citizen resources.  The original documentary about Billings, Montana, is out of production and hard to find, but your library might have it (mine does).

[mystictechgal]

Good show, Zombie. 

Y'know, now that you've dealt with the initial issue there is, perhaps, another lesson here that might be a good one for new college students to absorb.  Specifically, just because you see / hear it on the Internet, or elsewhere, it isn't necessarily true or valid. 

Too many people take things at face value, particularly when they are already predisposed to the information being disseminated, to the individual disseminating it, or to the medium of dissemination, instead of critically evaluate what is being said prior to accepting it as valid.  Learning the skills necessary to research a topic, looking at it from a variety of viewpoints and using a number of sources, and forming a personal, defensable, opinion based upon critical evaluation is one of the most important skills an individual can gain from their education.

[john_proctor]

It's actually much bigger than that, though.  And it is a college skills lesson.

If I write: "some people don't believe in Jesus," someone is surely going to protest "John is attacking Christianity."

Frankly, people pretty damned advanced in education (if not themselves college professors) can't make that distinction.

I think it was a valuable learning moment.


I leave aside, for the present, the issue of why anyone should believe they are somehow entitled to go through life without their beliefs being challenged or without being offended (I very much want to ask sometimes "really, who the f*** are you that you're somehow entitled to not see or hear something that offends you?"  But, as TM elegantly observes, "I digress").

[locutus]

I leave aside, for the present, the issue of why anyone should believe they are somehow entitled to go through life without their beliefs being challenged or without being offended (I very much want to ask sometimes "really, who the f*** are you that you're somehow entitled to not see or hear something that offends you?"  But, as TM elegantly observes, "I digress").

Is that what happened here? I think after many pages we don't know exactly what causesed the students's reaction and subsequent inappropriate email. It's important to make a distinction between disagreeing with some idea, being offended, and other possibilities. My impression of the OPs situation is that the video contained not only people with extremist ideas that might offend, but people who commit violence in service of those views. It is possible that some of the students in the class have had run ins with these types of people, or family members have. By run ins I don't mean verbal disagreements. I think that warrants a more sensitive reaction from the presenter of that material than "oh honey grown up and don't be offended"

[fishbrains]

Awesome job, zombinators!

This was a bit of a "teachable moment" for many of us on the forum. I'm not sure I would have handled things as well as you did.

[grasshopper]

This was a bit of a "teachable moment" for many of us on the forum. I'm not sure I would have handled things as well as you did.

I've been in situations like this, and I sure as hell didn't. I mean, it wasn't a disaster, but the most I was able to salvage was classroom etiquette.

Next, time, though... watch out! I'll be all over the teachability. Thanks for sharing this with us.

[kedves]

Would you know if the student had also contacted the guest speaker--the criminal justice professor?

[navelgazer]

Wow, Zombie, I'm really impressed how well you handled this (must be all the brains you eat). I dare say some of the forumites would have benefited from this kind of instruction as an undergraduate.