Segregation Is The New Inclusion: Blacks-Only Retreat At Cal State Fresno
Sorry, Dr. Martin Luther King. This is really what it's come to.
Michael McGrady writes at The College Fix that Cal State Fresno recently held a three-day blacks-only student retreat:
Fresno State President Joseph Castro, in an address to kick off the new school year, praised the retreat, noting "the call to better support African American students in connecting with their peers and the university was heard and put into action.""A first ever retreat, appropriately titled Harambee, which means 'Let's pull together,' was held this week where new and continuing African-American students, along with African-American faculty, staff and alumni, could exchange ideas of how to create a greater sense of belonging on campus," Castro continued.
Here's a suggestion -- do what I did when I went to the University of Michigan and mix with all sorts of people.
My roommate was from Jackson, Michigan, with a father who was a prison guard, and her mom told me she'd never met "a Jewish girl before."
We didn't particularly hit it off, but that's how life goes sometimes.
I didn't seek to only stay with people from the Detroit suburbs who were white and had a very similar upbringing to mine. What a bore.
And what a stupid way to go through life.
There's more from Fresno State:
"The retreat was a student success event to assist African-American students in their transition to university life and instill a sense of belonging at the institution, which has an approximately 4 percent African-American student population, and help boost retention and graduation rates of African-American students, which are slightly below other groups at Fresno State," Armbruster added.
Maybe (as I noted yesterday) that has more to do with admitting students mainly because they have the black faces you want and not the grade point and test scores of the students they're competing with.
They called it the “Harambee Student Retreat”.
Harambee? Wasn't that the name of the gorilla that was shot at the Cincinnati Zoo? Why would they name it that?
Ken R at August 23, 2016 11:50 PM
So I guess some goals of the Harambee Student Retreat were "to better support African American students in connecting with their peers" and to "instill a sense of belonging at the institution".
Connecting with their peers? Instill a sense of belonging? By forming a snobby clique based on skin color, and segregating themselves from the other 96% of the community?
Talk about racism and exclusion! That is some crazy mixed-up thinking.
Ken R at August 24, 2016 12:12 AM
"Harambee (Swahili: [haram'be]) is a East African, Kenyan, Tanzanian, and Ugandan tradition of community self-help events, e.g. fundraising or development activities. Harambee literally means "all pull together" in Swahili, and is also the official motto of Kenya and appears on its coat of arms."
LOL! 5th(?) generation of "African-Americans" still focusing on African traditions.
fyi - focusing on the challenges black students have moving from poor pre-college education (thanks Democrats/Teacher Unions) is not a bad thing.
Can't say that though for PC and racial reasons so let's harambee together.
Bob in Texas at August 24, 2016 6:22 AM
"5th(?) generation of "African-Americans" still focusing on African traditions. "
I get a laugh out of that too... I'm guessing none of them are from Kenya or Uganda or have ever been to those places. How much do they know about those countries? (Tip: ask them if they've ever heard of Idi Amin.) How many of them can even pick out Kenya or Uganda on a map?
Cousin Dave at August 24, 2016 6:43 AM
I'm guessing none of them are from Kenya or Uganda or have ever been to those places.
Only if they're recent immigrants (student visa) or children of such. Further, I doubt many slaves taken in those locations ended up in the Americas.
Arabia, on the other hand...
I R A Darth Aggie at August 24, 2016 8:37 AM
I'm white and managed to flunk out after my freshman year. Took a year of painting houses to get my sh*t together. No one offered me a Harambee.
This idea that college should be like home, warm, friendly, safe, comforting...is just insane. A college is a set of buildings with an administration whose goals do not include your comfort or success unless it helps them personally. They are there for their own advancement, just like everyone else in the world. One should assume that other people in the dorm are there to harass you and interfere with your studying, that profs are likely to avoid you and try to flunk you, and that the food is awful. If you assume these things it will go much better.
For the administration to intentionally stir up racial animus--wow, great idea.
Craig Loehle at August 24, 2016 11:54 AM
A “Harambee Student Retreat” for White students would have stressed that no one passes w/o being in a serious study group, forgoes binge drinking, does homework and extra study, and really really works at studying.
A “Harambee Student Retreat” for Black students does none of the above but instead helps "assist African-American students in their transition to university life and instill a sense of belonging at the institution ...". No wonder they flunk out and are pissed. No clue.
Bob in Texas at August 24, 2016 3:56 PM
Imagine the uproar if there was a White Protestant Male retreat.
Steven Daniels at August 24, 2016 4:39 PM
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