Asian Girl At Claremont McKenna Tries To Talk About Traumatic Story In "Safe Space" - Gets Shut Down Instantly By Crowd
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Students at Claremont McKenna College in California who are demanding a racially segregated “safe space” for “marginalized identities,” silenced and embarrassed an Asian woman when she described how she had been racially harassed by an African-American man.
First of all, Asian-American girl, your story sucks. Real talk. That story was brutal. Would totally get it if they were shutting you down for just rambling on and on when they’re trying to get shit done. But I guess it turns out they just didn’t like what you had to say? Didn’t fit the agenda of the day’s protest? “We should not distinguish people by their race or gender, everyone can be racisWHOOOOAAA WHAT? What the fuck did this girl just say? Who let you in here? Who is screening these things? God damn somebody just got so fucking fired.”
And speaking of Claremont McKenna…
In other news, these same students were able to get their Dean of Students fired! Well, “resigned under pressure.” Let’s see what she did.
Student protests roiled college campuses Thursday, when Claremont McKenna College’s dean of students resigned under pressure over racial tensions and protesters at more than 100 colleges and universities nationwide demanded the cancellation of student debt.
Dean Mary Spellman at Claremont McKenna stepped down after she sparked a campus protest and hunger strikes by two students this week over her email to a Latina student saying she would work to serve those who “don’t fit our CMC mold.”
Spellman later apologized but her remarks appeared to be a tipping point for students who have pressed the campus for months for greater diversity among faculty and staff and more funding for multicultural services.
…At Claremont, about 30 students of color wrote to President Hiram E. Chodosh in April, saying they felt excluded, isolated and intimidated. They proposed several actions to increase multicultural understanding, including a resource center, funding for multicultural clubs, more diverse hiring, a mentoring program and an administrator to oversee diversity. But students said their pleas went largely unheard, according to the Student Life campus newspaper.
The tensions escalated after Spellman responded last month to an op-ed by Lisette Espinosa, describing her discomfort at Claremont as a low-income Latina student. Spellman’s pledge to help students who don’t “fit the CMC mold” prompted more protests and triggered a university review of her office.
In an email to students Thursday, Spellman wrote: “To all who have been so supportive, please know how sorry I am if my decision disappoints you. I believe it is the best way to gain closure of a controversy that has divided the student body and disrupted the mission of this fine institution.” [LA Times]
For all my reading-comprehension challenged people out there, or just plain lazy to read the above paragraph, allow me to paraphrase…the Dean of Students took immediate notice of a problem presented to her by the student body, instantly promised to try her best to help and remedy the situation… and was forced to resign because of the phrasing she used. “Don’t fit the CMC mold” = microaggression…no, macroassault.
Yesterday, students protested at the college saying they wanted more programs for students of color as well as LGBT, disabled and low-income students. Last month, a CMC student Lisette Espinosa wrote in the student publication The Student Life about how she frequently felt unwelcome and isolated as a low-income Mexican woman at the private liberal arts school. She noted a long history of a lack of diversity and inclusion at CMC, and pointed to several examples where she experienced these things firsthand. She even linked to an Onion article titled “Man Going To Trust Society’s Determination That He Deserves His Privilege” where the fictitious character in question was a graduate of CMC.
One student, Taylor Lemmons, went on hunger strike yesterday, calling for Spellman’s resignation and citing a history of inaction and a lack of understanding.
Don’t try hard enough to help – get forced to resign. Try really hard to help – get forced to resign. Try to share a traumatic racial story in a safe space – get shut down and silenced. This protesting is confusing as hell man.