Word: complaintant
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...February 9, 1988, The Crimson ran an article, in which I was quoted, about a complaint made against Professor Stephan Thernstrom. The handling of information and chosen angle of the article ignored the issue. It was incorrect to assume that Thernstrom's remarks in lecture was the complete source of my complaint. Also, equally important issues I discussed, but were not addressed in the article, are: why were his remarks offensive, how they were interpreted, and what questions did they leave...
Thernstrom has defined racial insensitivity in terms of his own limited understanding, measured himself within these terms, and found himself not guilty. But he never stepped outside of those terms, never attempted to understand the source of the complaint. Instead he has turned the whole situation full circle, proclaimed himself victim, and resorted to childish name-calling and irrational comparisons. "McCarthyism of the left" and "witch-hunt" are more than a little extreme. The complaint is not an attempt to spitefully purge society of outsiders, nor is it xenophobia, nor is it fear of something unseen. This is not politics...
BUTTING HEADS Last week, students in Professor Stephan Thernstrom's Core class, Historical Studies A-25, "The Peopling of America," said the professor displayed racial insensitivity in the course. Two students who took the course discuss the complaint...
...Thernstrom have not gone so far as to classify him as a racist. But the euphemism "racially insensitive" seems insufficient cause for the uproar; their actions indicate a feeling that he is more than merely insensitive. Insensitivity is a matter for discussion; racism is a matter for offense and complaint. Implications that someone is a racist should not be expressed in any situation without clear cause...
...This complaint may become a thing of the past, because College officials have decided to schedule next fall's registration on the Friday before classes start. (See story page...