I think a math professor needs to be called in. ESC has 3872 students, and 65% of them are white. How is that 200? If only 200 were asked to leave the campus, how would that even be a token ‘show of diversity’? Would anyone even notice that such a small percentage of white people were missing from the campus that day?
This is a voluntary event at the campus that you sign up for…because you want to participate in the workshops on racism. The ca 200 white students would be the ones who themselves had signed up to participate in the Day of Absence/Day of Presence workshops. Normally, the students of color hold their workshops off campus (day of absence). This year the organizers suggested that the white students hold their workshops off campus (on the day of absence). This event has been going on since the 1970s.
So Mr. Weinstein says the white students who had signed up for the workshops were being oppressed because the organizers suggested that they be the ones to leave campus this year. ?? They signed up to participate; why did he even butt in on this? Sounds to me like he’s a piece of work.
That does not btw justify the protest devolving into profanity laced screaming matches nor for some nut-job to threaten to come to campus with a 44 to kill protestors.
So a bunch of white people are to go hold a workshop where people of color are not welcome? Are they supposed to talk about how they can make things better for group members, how they can make sure no on in the group fears discrimination, how their absence will really stand out at the university that day?
I thought these were the types of groups we, as a community, fight against.
No. The first part is workshops that are separate and then in the next part both groups come together and do joint workshops. You’re making this out to be something that it is not. This something the participants sign up for because they want to be participating in these workshops and in this event. It’s a fairly small fraction of the student body that gets involved and you are not forced to sign up. I bet most students don’t even pay much attention to it.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Discussing an event on campus is not a political discussion. Trying to weave in DT’s educational policies is. I’d rather not lock the thread, but there is a thin line that some posts are close to crossing, and the 5 posts that did cross that line have been deleted.
If you thought this issue would just go away, once the national media got bored…Haha
50 ESC faculty and staff members are doing their best to keep this disaster rolling…They are now demanding that Prof Weinstein be punished.
This is a typical title of articles that have already started to pop up…
I really do think this can have a negative impact on admissions, even to a liberal, non-selective school like ESC. Especially if this continues to drag on.
http://www.evergreen.edu/institutionalresearch/newstudents
ESC depends heavily on new transfer students, and enroll more transfer students than new freshman. Here are the Fall Quarter numbers over the last few years.
2011: 1557
2012: 1346
2013: 1309
2014: 1299
2015: 1364
2016: 1295
25% of undergrads are OOS; 91.3% are Full time students, 38% are “non-traditional age, 24 or older”.
A quick review of ESC’s budget, shows how dependent the school is to state appropriations (29% of revenue) and tuition (40%). Those two sources of revenue make up 100% of the operation budget (about $114M). While I don’t think the (liberal) state legislature will threaten ESC’s appropriations, I do think a Mizzou like drop in enrollment (20%+ over two years reduction in new enrolled students) is a possibility. If that happens, ESC would face financial exigency.
That would lead to such measures as hiring and salary freezes, furloughs, salary cuts, layoffs, nonrenewals, reduction and elimination of academic programs and colleges, revision of curricula, changes in academic policy, elimination of tenure, substantial changes in workload, and more.
All of which act to even further lower enrollment (who wants to attend a school going through a financial crisis?).
We’ll see how this all ends up impacting new enrollment in the fall, and then in 2018. But the longer this circus keeps on, the worse it gets.
https://www.evergreen.edu/sites/default/files/budget/docs/Budget101_2015.pdf
I have to admit that I’ve never herd of ESC before this. No way would I send my kids to a school where this was going on. I want my kids to actually be able to go to classes every day, regardless of their skin color!
Possibly, but the main students attracted to ESC may be relatively insensitive to this stuff. The leftists and hippies who do not have the academic credentials to go to a more selective school may still go there, as would the non-traditionals looking to finish a BA with the least hassle (open curriculum, so no worries about required courses being offered at inconvenient times) and best accommodation for their busy lives (evening and weekend classes, part time attendance).
I heard about it when I was in high school (not in Washington). A hippie leftist student from my high school class went there.
@collegedad13 I think there’s a big difference between the NFL’s Rooney Rule and the specific rules at ESC for hiring professors. The Rooney Rule requires NFL teams to interview at least one minority candidate for head coaching and senior operation roles. It does not require teams to submit an explanation of why they didn’t hire a minority candidate to a separate “diversity” committee.
From what I’ve come across, it appears that if ESC decides to hire a non-minority candidate, it must submit a justification to the Diversity and Equity Council. It’s not clear to me what actions that council can take if it doesn’t like the justification, but it seems to indicate that the council can subvert the authority of those responsible for hiring a qualified member for the department. This was the policy that Weinstein apparently took issue with, believing that race could end up dominating the hiring decision rather than actual experience and accomplishments within the field that the candidates would be teaching.
I haven’t come across anything to indicate that ESC is only hiring or can only find white male professors (although to be fair I haven’t seen anything contradicting that claim either).
^^^
Right and why should there be any sort of equivalency between hiring NFL coaches and hiring faculty at a university?
I’d bet professors are normally thrilled to be proven right but I suspect not so much in this case. I’m surprised anyone thinks it’s a good idea to have hiring decisions second guessed by what’s undoubtedly an ideologically-driven organization.
We’ve had several post in the past dealing with Student “demands”, and hiring is a common demand. However, you can’t post a job and make race a requirement.
What you can do (and most larger employers will do), is have any hiring decision reviewed by HR to insure the process was non-discriminatory.
You can also target and recruit specific individuals (or a group of individuals via a “cluster” hire). In fact, with the shortage (and competition) in qualified minority faculty, this is often the best method. Hire a proven mentor who will help recruit and train the next generation of minority faculty. Someone that will create the right environment. Of course, everyone wants this person(s), so it takes funding.
Possibly. However, I think enough “liberal” and minority students would be turned off by the charges of racism being thrown around, and would look for a better “environment”, that it could hurt enrollment. You only need 20% or so to decide NOT to attend, for it to have a huge impact.
ESC already accepts anyone that applies (98% acceptance rate), it does not have much room to spare if enrollment drops (it can’t lower it’s admission requirements or offer tuition discounts). It does face competition from other schools (it only has a 35% yield/acceptance rate). Especially damaging could be a drop in OOS students (OOS tuition =$24K a year, in-state=$7.5K).
The state legislature may not come to aid ESC should enrollment take a precipitous drop. There are more than a few folks in the legislature who are not big supporters of increased aid for higher education. Plus, in the Pacific Northwest it is the University of Washington that takes up most of the oxygen in the room.
Somehow, ESC does not give the impression that it is attractive (before these incidents) to traditional college students who are “liberal” (as opposed to far left).
@ucbalumnus Good Point. :-?
A Frank Bruni Op-ed in the NYT:
Monday morning update (6/5/17): The school continues to be closed, due to another threat received over the weekend, and the Board issues a strong statement on academic freedom/freedom of speech.
That is certainly not how the professor or most of the news media has portrayed this.
If there are, say, 100 white student and 100 black students who choose to participate in the annual event, and the group suggests the 100 white students do their event off campus and the 100 black students do it on campus, that is COMPLETELY different than saying “white students should stay off campus for the day”.
I’d like to confirm that is the case?