Campus-wide email from Dr. Witt

PinotNoir
Sun, 06 Feb 2011 12:34:07 +0000

I want to emphasize in the strongest possible terms that The University of Alabama finds this behavior totally unacceptable, and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.





you can’t stop people from being ignorant. Bigotry while reprehensible isn’t a crime.



Good for the head of the university calling this out and making the university’s position on racial discrimination crystal clear.

I don’t believe things need to be a crime for schools to discipline students for poor behavior.



I know racism is everywhere. I think it needs to be addressed when it happens.



Absolutely. It needs to be called out when it happens. Silence empowers bullies and haters.



Leadership starts at the top and perception is reality in today’s world. Given Bama’s history and its present efforts to recruit students nationally, Dr. Witt did the right thing by getting out in front of this story.

His message was to the world, not just the campus. I applaud him.



Absolutely. As a parent of a junior very likely to be NMF, we are considering u of Alabama because of the wonderful scholarship offered. I do have concerns about diversity and tolerance on any college campus any of my kids might go to, because I would think that any of my kids (or myself for that matter) would find it soul-sucking to live with a culture of bigotry and hate for 4 years - whether it’s against someone of a certain race, sexual orientation, gender, or any other silly reason people choose to discriminate for. That isn’t to say that they will find (or need to find) a utopia where everyone hands out flowers and peace signs every day, or that any perfect place exists, but there’s a difference between having some bad apples in the bunch and an institution supporting it and turning a blind eye to it.

The response from the college is EXACTLY the kind of thing that helps me believe that U of A can be a fine place to go to school despite its history. Things happened lots of places 60 years ago - it’s what’s being said there NOW that matters, and I for one like what the head of the university said.