As usual, stories of misbehavior by the Illiberal Left on college campuses come from right-wing sites, and this one comes from CampusReform. It describes a list of 64 demands that different student groups at the University of Maryland (where I held my first job), working together under the rubric of “ProtectUMD” have made of the administration. These demands can be verified by going to the Diamondback (the student newspaper) website. I’ve put the list of “demands” below, but here’s what CampusReform says about them:
The Pro-Palestine demands are incompatible with the beliefs of the Jewish student organizations on campus, leading the student groups Terps for Israel, the Jewish Student Union, and J Street U to abstain from the project.
Students for Justice in Palestine declined to answer questions from Campus Reform, as did every other organization that was contacted.
“I think [these demands] are ridiculously easy [to accomplish],” said Muslim Student Association member Khaled Nurhssien told The Diamondback.
“We commend the students for their passionate advocacy and for coming together in solidarity on these issues,” a university spokesperson told Campus Reform. “President Loh has convened a group of his staff to thoroughly review the list of demands and make recommendations accordingly. That process is well underway.”
The UMD spokesperson declined to answer further questions.
When I first read this list of demands, I wanted to go through them and put in bold all the ones I considered unreasonable. But then I realized that the majority of these demands would be in bold, so the emphasis would be diluted. Instead, I’ll just bold a very few that I consider either very unreasonable or dangerous to freedom of speech.
FOR ALL MARGINALIZED STUDENT COMMUNITIES Required diversity training for SGA recognized and Greek organizations. The University employ more professors of color in all university departments Increased mental health support and resources for students of color. University scholarships for students of marginalized communities. A statement from President Loh reassuring marginalized UMD students that the University is committed to making UMD a safe space for all marginalized groups in response to the election and urging these students to speak out when they feel that the university is not meeting this goal. Accountability for hate speech or action:
Immediate response to hate speech or actions from the University including a consequence (e.g. mark on transcript, potential suspension); Immediate turnaround for the removal of hate speech printed or written on campus property, sidewalks and boards; A task force separate from UMPD officers to look into investigations. Revamping of the Diversity and Cultural Competency General Education requirement. Students that meet this requirement should take a class that allows them not only to understand other cultures, but also by the end of the course have an understanding of privilege, oppression, and marginalized groups. Representation of students of color on UMD Student Judiciary and Senate. Study into the punishment statistics by race/gender/etc. of students at some point in the coming year – the legal system is rife with discrimination against minorities, especially those in poverty. It is crucial that our student judiciary is more equitable and gives all students a fair judgement. Establishing a voluntary accreditation for activist groups. Administration should support and defend activist groups by nullifying slander and smear campaign from bigger group. Example: Many members of SJP were slandered as anti-Semitic for being pro-Palestine; Make free legal advice available for students participating in activism who face slander or other dishonest claims while exercising their rights to protest and free speech; Provide protection during campus events that might make students feel unsafe because of their political implications [ie Israel Fest for Muslim and Arab students, Columbus day and Independence Day for American Indian students etc.]. The University of Maryland match the campus minimum wage to Prince George’s minimum wage. An established safe, secure and permanent location for the Office of Civil Rights & Sexual Misconduct at The University of Maryland. The creation and implementation of Dean of Students with supporting staff.
- Help implement policy change on behalf of student concerns
- Requirements:
- Master’s or Doctoral degree in Education Administration
- Experience in diversity and inclusion on institutional level
- Preferably a representative from a vulnerable group
- Approach:
- Students serve on Dean of Students search committee along with other staff, professors and administrators
Role
- Serve as liaison for student needs and concerns on behalf of administration
- Get to know student groups on campus and is actively available for students; makes efforts to attend student engagements
- Serve as an ally to marginalized students
FOR THE AMERICAN INDIAN STUDENT COMMUNITY The University officially remove the Christopher Columbus Day holiday from all university materials and mediums. Replace it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day to take away the stain of colonialism from our University. Acknowledge during every event, that “this is indigenous land.” Make efforts to officially recognize the tribe or nation whose land upon which the University of Maryland is built. Establish an Indigenous Studies minor. Funding for AISU and departments such as Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy office, who supports indigenous students and their efforts. The official recognition of the Sarah Winnemucca award in the University awards. An indigenous scholarship for college students as well as high school students. An indigenous cultural center where students can explore their indigenous identity and others. FOR THE BLACK STUDENT COMMUNITY University System of Maryland divestment from Maryland Correctional Enterprises. UMD student divestment from businesses and companies invested in MCE and the prison industrial complex. Tenure for African American professors. [JAC: If this means all must get tenure, it’s unfair.] Increased funding for the Nyumburu Cultural Center and making the Nyumburu Cultural Center a stop during UMD campus tours. FOR THE LATINX STUDENT COMMUNITY A claim to physical space on campus. A school that prides itself on diversity has failed to give students of color adequate, quality space such as a Latinx Cultural Center. University recruitment practices involving students of color that making them and their friends feel welcome and included on campus. A faculty body that is more diverse and representative of branches of academia that deal with the history and discourse of minority populations and integrating this into majors such as a USLT major and a road for tenure for the professors who teach in these departments. More funding allocated for multicultural student organizations in order to execute educational and cultural programming to help bridge the diversity divide on campus. FOR THE LGBTQIA+ STUDENT COMMUNITY Mandated faculty training in the fundamentals of campus inclusion of queer folks. Students be allowed the choice of different gender roommates in the residence halls through random matching. Multi-stall gender-inclusive bathrooms in every building with multi-stall bathrooms. Converting the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Studies program into a department in order to provide curricular autonomy. Including pronouns in addition to names on student rosters seen by faculty and advisors. Implementing a campus wide policy to replace male-female checkboxes with write-in boxes on all forms, surveys, and applications. Gender neutral bathrooms in all buildings on campus. Faculty (especially those working in the health center and counseling center), students, and college park police take part in queer diversity training, such as the Rainbow Terrapin Network. The administration advocate for and defend the Arts and Humanities, as they are one of the departments most sensitive to LGBTQ issues and also one of the most at risk under new new state and federal leadership. FOR THE MUSLIM STUDENT COMMUNITY Protect the names and religious/ethnic affiliations of students should they be demanded from the government for harmful use. An increase in the number of safe, designated prayer areas on campus. One room in each major building (e.g. SPH, Chemistry, McKeldin etc.) designated for prayer. [JAC: This is a state school and that would violate the Constitution.] Shuttle services to the Diyanet Center of America for Muslim students to have access to a place of worship and participate in the many activities that the center hosts. Increased discussions about the diversity of the Muslim community on campus and worldwide. More classes offered pertaining to Islam and the Muslim world taught by Muslim professors, who will counteract the negativity surrounding the name of Islam that is perpetuated by our culture and media. Measures to prevent situations similar to the “American Sniper” situation from happening again.
SEE and other organizations on campus should have better judgement when choosing to show movies that perpetuate false narratives and stereotypes of Muslim and should be held accountable if they do not take this into consideration. More Zabiha options on the campus meal plan to accommodate Muslims who adhere to those rulings. More counselors who are sensitive to the needs of Muslim students. Ensure that the have the training be sensitive to the nuances in the Muslim community and are from the communities we often come from. Additional training or staff is necessary. FOR THE PRO-PALESTINE STUDENT COMMUNITIES The encouragement of equal and positive representation of Pro-Palestinian human rights activists on campus. Specifically, condemning the conflation of Pro-Palestinian activism with racism and Anti-Semitism. Pro-Palestinian activists are people who seek the fair treatment of Palestinians in Palestine and the rest of the world. Pro-Palestinians do not reject the human rights of any group of people, and encourage a fair and just system of governance across the globe. The active encouragement of faculty and students to engage in discourse and learning about the Palestinians’ struggles and the Boycott Divest and Sanction movement without fear of consequences by the university administration. Faculty and students have long been targeted for their political stances and their rights to free speech impeded, especially on this issue. We hope the university administration recognizes their disenfranchised groups and helps develop an environment within which it is safe for them to voice their opinions. FOR THE UNDOCUMENTED STUDENT COMMUNITY A full-time Undocumented Student Coordinator to advocate for, advise, represent, and protect undocumented and DACAmented students. A declaration of the University of Maryland, College Park as a sanctuary campus for undocumented and DACAmented students and their families. Ensured protection of student information about immigration status from local, state, and government agencies. A system to ensure reaction and protection from the UMD Administration if an undocumented or DACAmented student faces detention or deportation proceedings. A full-time immigration attorney for the Offices of Undergraduate and Graduate Student Legal Aid. An Undocumented Student Resource Office to provide academic counseling, legal support, mental health counseling, and to guide students to university resources. Mandatory training about undocumented students’ unique experiences and needs in academic settings for all university faculty and staff. A significant expansion of mental health services for all students of color, especially undocumented and DACAmented students. A system to ensure that DACAmented students can continue to receive in-state tuition if their DACA status is cancelled. An opening up of merit scholarships and emergency funds to undocumented and DACAmented students. Signed by: African Students Progressive Action Committee, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated Theta Nu Chapter, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated Iota Zeta Chapter, The American Indian Student Union, Ashley Vasquez, BSOS UMD Senator, Committee on Committees Undergraduate Rep, Bisexuals at Maryland, The Black Student Union, Chi Chapter of Hermandad de Sigma Iota Alpha, Incorporada, The Coalition of Latinx Student Organizations, Community Roots, Eta Beta Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc, Ethiopian Eritrean Student Association, Kappa Phi Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, Katherine Swanson, Student Body President, NAACP, University of Maryland, Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc. Upsilon Chapter, Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, Inc. Delta Eta Chapter, The Muslim Student Association, True Colors of Maryland, Political Latinxs United for Movement and Action in Society, Preventing Sexual Assault, The Pride Alliance, Students for Justice in Palestine, Student Labor Action Project, Our Revolution
Notice all the different types of mandatory sensitivity training for faculty, students, and staff. Were that done, there would be no time for other education!
h/t: pyers
“64 Demands” — Jeez, just 31 more and they could nail them to the dean’s door, Wittenberg-style.
And that comment would go right over their heads.
+1 Spot on, that is.
Huh? Luther actually had 96 theses?
To paraphrase Georges Clemenceau:
64 demands? The Good Lord only had ten.
His were so preoccupied with graven images and vain name-taking, they didn’t have room for genocide, slavery, and rape.
And, Mr Kukec, ya’ know, not ? that:
… … “This is most certainly t r u e !”
Just ask, over all of the ensuing and intervening centuries, any 13 – year – old, so inculcated confirmand !
Blue
Things I find funny:
1. “Committee on Committees Undergraduate Rep”
2. “Pro-Palestinian activists are people who seek the fair treatment of Palestinians in Palestine and the rest of the world. Pro-Palestinians do not reject the human rights of any group of people, and encourage a fair and just system of governance across the globe.”
That’s a statement not a demand. Where is the action?
3.”Student Body President”
Why don’t xe have any thing to say ON BEHALF of the Jewish, Hindu, Buddhists, atheists, secular humanists and…. who failed to participate. Don’t they represent the student body?
4. Black student representatives are concerned with jails as their first and second “demand”.
5. President Loh is one typo away from President LOL
6.”Ensure that the have the training be sensitive to the nuances in the Muslim community and are from the communities we often come from”
Like missing letters and words in a list of demands?
7. “University recruitment practices involving students of color that making them and their friends feel welcome and included on campus.”
Maybe it should say, “recruitment practices that MAKE them able to proofread. (also see number 6 above)
Either Nurhssien is completely ignorant of the way the world works (possible), or he is being purposefully disingenuous (also possible). To take just one example of a demand that would require a lot of time and money: “Multi-stall gender-inclusive bathrooms in every building with multi-stall bathrooms.” Re-do bathrooms in every building on campus? It would take Facilities at least six months to identify vendors to do the work, probably longer. And which programs/activities should be cut in order to fund the work? Frankly, this list of demands displays a practical ignorance calling into question what it is these students learn.
Most of these demands need to be addressed as what they are, an attempt to impose a particular ideological viewpoint on the institution and its students.
Why stalls? Isn’t it more gender inclusive to *remove all the stalls*? Don’t stalls, just by existing, hiding-normative?
The list is a cornucopia of stupid. The conspiracy to re-elect Donald J Trump in action!
Yes, why not reintroduce fully open public latrines like the romans had, complete with the Cloaca Maxima, preferably running past the Arts and Humanities buildings.
When in Rome, crap as the Romans do, I always say.
PSA to everyone: I took Ken’s advice and ended up on the Italian sex offender registry. And to think that every other time I took advice from random internet strangers, it worked out fruitfully for all involved. My faith in people has been broken by Ken here.
Thanks, Obama! …I mean, Ken!
Jeez, I’m sorry, BJ. The last time I gave random internet advice to a stranger visiting Italy, it was Amanda Knox, and I told her to go out to the clubs, mingle with the locals.
Didn’t work out so well that time, either.
You, sir, are a monster.
Sprinkled through these are some Demands that seem reasonable. I would like to see more scholarships aimed at specific minorities, for example. But a lot of them would require a large investment in resources, and/or create new problems.
I see nothing wrong with having more scholarships, but yeah, there is that one minor catch: finding a donor to fork over the dosh for such scholarships. Do these children not understand where scholarship money comes from? Perhaps they’d prefer cutting some other university program to fund scholarships? And good luck lobbying state and federal governments for funding increases.
How about they form some organizations and lobby some groups and organizations that are supportive of their communities to fund more scholarships, rather than just demand that somebody else do something?
It’s easier to demand change than to actually cause and implement it.
Oh, I think this lot would be happy to cut science programs.
Yeah, science can be too hard and unsafe and feewing-hurting…
Reminds me of high school where each little clique had its own table in the cafeteria.
How on Earth did you make it to the end of that list? I simply couldn’t do it; my eyes and brain rebelled.
What are the odds that the number of persons that are active members in the groups listed at the bottom of the page is exceeded by the number of their demands.
Interesting how there’s a separate section for “pro-Palestine student communities”. Set aside the contradiction of crying “FREE SPEECH!” when concerned Jewish students point out anti-Semitism while demanding “immediate response to hate speech” from the university (I guess they don’t think Jewish students should have a safe space). Is being pro-Palestine now an identity (like black, Latino, Muslim etc)? Since when political beliefs and ideas are identities? When are we going to hear about the demands of “anti-Obamacare student communities”? What about the views of “pro-quinoa student community”? Identity politics turns absurd very fast indeed.
It’s identity politics on steroids. So many labels! So many groups! Every one with their own specific demands and needs, many of which will be in conflict with eachother.
Wasn’t the whole point supposed to be that we’re all equal?
How are these people ever going to be able to hold down jobs, when every perceived microaggression will leave them weeping on the floor?
They’ll take over the HR departments. If there’s one thing they love, it’s a position of power over the behavior of others.
as an employer with already a diverse group of people, my list of colleges and universities whose graduates I WILL NOT hire, is continually growing
What ever happened to just getting stoned and playing Frisbee?
Come, Billy Bl., ON over !
O Yeah !
‘nd then climbing four floors’ worth
of the fire escape to mine’s dorm level
just in th’nick o’time to pretend – sleep
upon the occasion of my having been i) caught
out after hours during ii) the house mother’s sudden and unannounced bed check — begun upon ground level so as, after that frenetic telephone call from my roommate in to my Friend’s off – campus landline, I had had
just enough time for its clandestine and sprinting ascent.
With subsequent, and literal, under( – the -) cover subterfuge !
W h e w !
51 years later ? I pass by that exact fire escape nearly every single day !
Blue
Those were the days. Mine was climbing up and sliding down a big piece of iron ‘art’ at about 4 a.m. Every several years I visit the town and drive by it, remembering.
Sadly, there may need to be some sort of protection of students from our future government requesting all sorts of affiliations, not just religious and ethnic. I’m not sure if the rumblings we’ve been hearing about (request for lists of climate change scientists) are just paranoia, or a harkening back to Nixon’s enemies list, McCarthy’s read scare, or Bush’s demands to see library patrons’ checkouts.
What angers me is the administration acting like cowardly babysitters. They commend these students? For what? Compiling an absurd, bloated list? If they were truly educators they’d hand it back with a failing grade.
Conor Friedersdorf had this in the Atlantic:
A Wisconsin Legislator Models Political Correctness for Students
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/a-wisconsin-legislator-models-political-correctness-for-university-students/511337/
I am suspicious of anything right wingers are doing in Wisconsin. Friedersdorf is a Libertarian and the article is good. He is critical of the legislator, Steve Nass, who is a hypocrite on free speech.
He close with:
And conservatives, liberals, and libertarians should all be able to agree that consistent, principled defenses of free speech norms are indispensable at institutions of higher education, and that their absence is most damaging to marginalized students. Uniting against illiberalism on the right and left is the best course. Otherwise, political groups will waste their efforts on an interminable fight to censor one another, instead of defending the values that serve them all.
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right…
clowns to the left
+1
So I heard Birth of a Nation is on the UMUC Film History curriculum from a classmate last year. Countdown to Film History meltdown?
Why not 99 problems?
99 red balloons
Institutions of Silencing and Un Learning to confront a Western European tradition that dates to the 12th century of free debate
Soon these people try to overthrow the constitution and they’d put the founding fathers being slaveholders as the reason. They think they, themselves are holy and flawless somehow (puritanists). I’m more afraid from pc (college people) than white supremacist and some other hate groups, because in 10-20 years ‘these’ people would run all universities, all departments, all government branches and they’d be the people who’d call shots in all issues.
There’s also a hell of a lot more of them, and many of them are just as hateful.
Well, if they’re failing to respond, surely that should be a (how is it phrased?) “mark on the transcript” of [the organisation’s] elected officials.
They’ve chosen to put themselves in a PR position; failure to complete the requirements of such a position is simply a failure.
Actually, this is all just common crapola from young pre-adult children who leave the nest and venture out in the world without mommy and daddy holding their hand.
“FOR THE LGBTQIA+ STUDENT COMMUNITY”
Does the “+” mean that they’re finally done adding letters?
Regular expression humor!
Back in the 80s we were the gay and lesbian community. Then somewhere in the 90s we became the LGBT community. Even though we have relatively little in common with transgender people. Now we’re the LGBTQIA community and the alphabet soup keeps growing longer…
… and you can’t object to it on the grounds that your concerns are being subverted or frittered away by a bunch of me-too-ers and band-wagon-jumpers because, you know, that would mean you’re bigoted…
cr
It’s such a shame more of the group names involved didn’t start with a vowel. That way at least the letters could be re-ordered into a pronounceable word. One of them would have to be a “U” so we could use the “Q” somehow (sorry, I’ve probably been playing too much scrabble).
Not enough homework?
I don’t remember having that much time.
Some of the items seem like reasonable suggestions, but I wonder if they need to be a list of “demands”. Couldn’t they simply have a meeting with the administration and discuss them?
This has more to do with “authoritarian” than with left. how different is this really from the conservatives who want to regulate what you do in the bedroom? Are some of these demands not almost as bad as the abrogation of evo-bio in public schools. Maybe the left right devide isnt so important compared to the Y axis of libertarian vs. Authoritarian.
sub
Wottalottacrap.
Or, more substantively, ‘Will the persons who dumped this steaming pile of garbage on our porch please dig through it, sort out the few items of value for our attention, and haul the rest away to fertilise someone else’s backyard.’
cr
Bloody Hell, don’t they study anymore.? or is it just day after day of seeking redress for imagined ( and rarely real) grievances)
I am absolutely astounded at the lack of self-awareness! Don’t they see that they are accomplishing the precise thing they are supposedly fighting,i.e. divisions along racial, sexual preference, religious, etc. differences.
They are NO BETTER than the right wingers who voted for Trump because they wanted someone to nurse their grievances. How is this any different? Actually, I think these snowflakes are far worse, and I blame college administrators for refusing to stand up to these infants.
Mandatory training seems like a form of brainwashing to me — something the Stalin or Mao governments would have embraced with gusto.
Absolutely agreed.
I suspect it’s also largely ineffectual. The sheeple will pick up a collection of catchphrases and slogans to parrot and the reactionary dissidents will stay just as reactionary (or, in fact, increase their prejudices in the face of such perceived nonsense).
I do recall, as students, we were fairly intolerant of lecturers and subjects that were ‘wasting our time’.
cr
It’s sort of like Health and Safety training when you work in an office. You waste your time on it because it’s mandated but the whole time you’re thinking that you work in an office & coming upon nuclear waste is going to be really unusual. I don’t mind taking it once, but every year is a bit much.
Oh, fervently agreed. Don’t start me on ‘health & safety’…
cr
unhealthy and dangerous
Where does all this end, short of total meltdowm?
Maybe students with disassociate identity disorder should demand that all official forms include boxes for L,G,B,T,Q and I which are each to be filled in with a number rather then a tick.
And I fear I’ve slid over into being a crusty old fart, since my first reaction to the pronouns demand was why not just call everyone “comrade” and be done with it.