Word: afro-am
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...January 30 open forum on the Afro-American Studies concentration, sponsored by the Undergraduate Council, I saw Thomson Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield '53 called "ignorant" and "a racist" simply because he felt the Afro-Am Department should be organized as a committee rather than as a department. At the same time, students in the audience derided the Black scholars whom Mansfield cited as supporting his position, such as W.E.B. DuBois, as having sold out to white society...
While Mansfield's reasoned arguments received jeers from the crowd, his counterpart, Thomson Professor of Government Martin L. Kilson drew cheers when he stated (three times) that the concept of an Afro-Am department was "unassailable." That evening's events can be fairly characterized as the hegemony of "political correctness"--the suppression of rational arguments by intolerant emotional rhetoric...
Moreover, this practice also has the dangerous side-effect of eliminating certain arguments from the realm of discourse just as much as PC itself does. For example, there are legitimate arguments for an Afro-Am Department, a Palestinian homeland and the continuance of sanctions before launching the recent attack on Iraq. These positions, part of the "politically correct" agenda, should not be categorically dismissed simply because they are part of that agenda...
Diversity is the watchword at Harvard and on campuses across the country. In protests by Afro-Am concentrators and teaching boycotts by law professors, hiring and affirmative action have become highly divisive and emotional issues...
...Harvard students, we're always glad when Harvard steals established hotshot professors in underappreciated fields from other schools. It certainly helps Harvard. But does it help the field? Does it help the overall mission of higher education? Does it help the nation? Not much. Harvard needs junior faculty in Afro-Am. It has none. Harvard must make a serious effort to increase the pool of scholars in the field and others like it. It hasn...