The Students Are Running The Asylum
That's not an ADHD-driven mistake (students/asylum).
The power structure has shifted in colleges in an utterly crazy way, to the point where a professor can be in peril of losing everything if their students decide to go after them.
My tweet:
Academia today: Students are a cross between customers and Robespierre, and watch out!
— Amy Alkon (@amyalkon) January 30, 2021
John McWhorter writes:
Law professor Jason Kilborn cited the N-word (and the B-word) on an exam thusly: n****, b****. It was in a question about an employment discrimination case. He has done so for years previously to no comment - as all reading this but a sliver would expect.But this year, a group of black students initiated a protest against him for harming them in exposing them to this expurgated rendition of the N-word. That is, in a class training them in litigation in the real world.
One black student claimed that they experienced heart palpitations upon reading the words. During an hours-long Zoom talk with a black student representing the protesters, Kilborn made a flippant remark to the effect that the law school dean may suppose that he is some kind of "homicidal maniac" - upon which the student reported to the dean that Kilborn indeed may be one. Kilborn is no longer teaching the class, is relieved of his administrative duties, and because of the possible physical threat he poses to black students because of the Hyde-like tendency he referred to, he is barred from campus.
No, this is not an SNL parody or a heightened storyline on a show like The Good Wife or Law and Order. This has actually happened, to and with and by real human beings here and now.
The administrators who did this to Kilborn think they are being "allies" of black people. They have actually revealed themselves as neoracists.
A tragic thing about our times is that episodes like this are coming to seem almost normal. We shake our heads at the "excess" involved. Possibly we walk by with a quick glance, as on a highway passing a nasty car wreck. We mutter in a conversation about it that the issues are "complex."
But let's pull the camera back, take a deep breath, and look at something like this pillorying of Kilborn with clear eyes. If a black student is traumatized to such a degree by seeing "n*****" on a piece of paper, then that student needs psychological counseling. We all understand the history and power of the N-word, but we all also understand the simple issue of degree. That student who got heart palpitations needs help, and what the suits at the University of Illinois in Chicago should have done as gently direct this student to the proper services, which the school surely provides, for people who have fallen away from the ability to cope with normal life.
...Modern "antiracism" is neither a philosophy nor a political program: it is a religious creed, complete with priests, Original Sin, heresy, evangelism, and millenialism (although it hasn't quite gotten to forgiveness yet). Jason Kilborn is not being disciplined. He is being stoned. His accusers and sanctioners are modern equivalents of the prelates who condemned Galileo to home arrest.
...Normal people don't fall to pieces when seeing "n*****" on a piece of paper, regardless of their race. The neoracists who have barred Jason Kilborn from campus in pretending this isn't true are operating upon an assumption that black people are morons. This is a rather fascinating rendition of "antiracism," and to treat it as "allyship" is nothing less than a cultural sickness.
"Modern "antiracism" is neither a philosophy nor a political program: it is a religious creed,"
No, it's all 3. It's also pretty much textbook for how socialists/communists took over in the past in other countries.
Joe J at January 31, 2021 5:58 AM
And none of those poor darlings ever heard of NWA?
Link is 1993 NYT story.
KateC at January 31, 2021 8:11 AM
He should sue the school for wrongful termination and the student for libel. As part of the discovery against the student would be the download of all texts, social media posts and any music subscription services. I’m going to go ahead and guess that the student is a bit more familiar with that word than she is letting on and probably has used it herself a time or two. I’m guessing this student was less insecure about her place in society and more afraid of her grade on the exam.
Sheep Mom at January 31, 2021 9:05 AM
Q & A Headline responses:
At least none of these knuckleheads will be able to pass the bar exam?
A) "Why this pandemic is a good time to stop forcing prospective lawyers to take bar exams"
WaPo. 7/13/20
Q) That's just advocacy. A state bar wouldn't go along with that?
A) "Over 1,000 New Lawyers Get Licenses Without Taking Bar Exam"
Bloomberg Law. 1/4/21
Q) But surely, they won't find work?
A) "As hate crime laws expand, who to exclude as victims?"
WaPo 9/10/19
Spiderfall at January 31, 2021 10:10 AM
I'm just getting more and more frustrated with what I'm seeing on social media in general. To hear about it on social media, the world is doomed. We're heading toward the "global reset" and a one-world government.
The problem is that most people feel the need to be outraged by it, but no one ever says what they're doing about it.
There has already been a proposal to make red meat illegal in the name of climate change. That would be AOC's disastrously bad "Green New Deal." There are many who have the facts out there to refute this nonsense about cows causing the thinning ozone layer.
The problem is that they're content to share all this on social media. But none of them feel the need to acquaint their Congressmen with this information.
There's a lot of outrage on social media. But it seems that none of it leads to any kind of action.
Patrick at January 31, 2021 11:00 AM
I'm just getting more and more frustrated with what I'm seeing on social media in general. To hear about it on social media, the world is doomed. We're heading toward the "global reset" and a one-world government.
The problem is that most people feel the need to be outraged by it, but no one ever says what they're doing about it.
There has already been a proposal to make red meat illegal in the name of climate change. That would be AOC's disastrously bad "Green New Deal." There are many who have the facts out there to refute this nonsense about cows causing the thinning ozone layer.
The problem is that they're content to share all this on social media. But none of them feel the need to acquaint their Congressmen with this information.
There's a lot of outrage on social media. But it seems that none of it leads to any kind of action.
Patrick at January 31, 2021 11:00 AM
There were law students in England I think who objected to class material on rape...in law school. Good luck if you get one of these grads on your case (either side) who knows nothing about the law on rape.
cc at January 31, 2021 11:44 AM
And that law student who fell part due to seeing the "n word" in writing is NOT someone who I would want to representing me in a legal case.
I mean if a word causes them to lose sight of what matters how will they be able to keep it together in a court of law? The opposing lawyers will use such fragility to their advantage.
The bottom line is that they shouldn't be in law school.
charles at January 31, 2021 12:08 PM
You are taking the claims as though they were honest. As Sheep Mom says check their social media. Check their phone for music. What this really boils down to is nothing new. Kilborn was expendable for the university. It was convenient to go after him.
Ben at January 31, 2021 1:30 PM
For those who don't know, here's a definition of millennialism (McWhorter apparently forgot the second n):
"Millennialism, also called millenarianism or chiliasm, the belief, expressed in the book of Revelation to John, the last book of the New Testament, that Christ will establish a 1,000-year reign of the saints on earth (the millennium) before the Last Judgment."e
Lenona at January 31, 2021 1:43 PM
Is there more to this story? Like, were there lots of complaints about him?
Like Larry Summers when he had the vote of no confidence, and it was portrayed as because of a comment he made in standard deviation IQ differences between men and women... it wasn't really, the faculty hated him because he was a micromanaging asshole, that was just the last straw.
NicoleK at February 1, 2021 1:11 AM
Is there more to this story? Like, were there lots of complaints about him?
Like Larry Summers when he had the vote of no confidence, and it was portrayed as because of a comment he made in standard deviation IQ differences between men and women... it wasn't really, the faculty hated him because he was a micromanaging asshole, that was just the last straw.
NicoleK at February 1, 2021 1:14 AM
Or on the prosecution team where the accused is a member of the Klan or a related group. "Your honor, the prosecution's gonna need a minute, a safe space, and a puppy. The defendant just used a word that triggered me."
Conan the Grammarian at February 1, 2021 7:41 AM
If a black student is traumatized to such a degree by seeing "n*****" on a piece of paper, then that student needs psychological counseling.
I seriously doubt that the student was traumatized to any degree at all. Their problem isn't psychological or emotional, it's moral. They're lying.
Ken R at February 3, 2021 3:48 AM
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