<p>I ask again–who else gets on the list–Black Muslims, Islamists, Atheists, Christians, Jews–Oops back where you started.</p>
<p>collegialmom:</p>
<p>To the best of my knowledge, Williams College has not published a mission statement.</p>
<p>It has published quotes from 6 of its Presidents which, taken as a whole, are presented as defining the school’s mission:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.williams.edu/home/mission/[/url]”>http://www.williams.edu/home/mission/</a></p>
<p>Diversity and tolerance are only obliquely referenced in these quotes, mostly directly in the quotes from Francis Oakley. Schapiro’s quote set a decidedly pragmatic, businesslike mission.</p>
<p>“Interesteddad: Agreed. But does Williams not have these values as part of its mission, or are they just not skilled with leadership per the same?”</p>
<p>It’s just hard to know. The institution has come a long, long way from one with a checkered (pockmarked?) history of both anti-Jewish and anti-Catholic sentiment to one where its last two Presidents have been Jewish. In a mild sort of way, they have been adding to institutional diversity both among faculty and students, and let’s note that this is not easy to do, given its location (although they probably could put more money into it - they do have it to put). They have been wrestling very hard with quality of campus life issues, recently investing $5.4 million – that they had not planned for – in new social and residential arrangements; jury is still out as to whether it will make a substantive differnece. They have had difficulty keeping a Jewish chaplain, and their own student surveys several years ago (which they were quite brave to undertake) indicated that there were difficulties in integrating minorities, especially African-Americans, into the full intellectual life of the college, and are looking for ways to do that better, and have recently hired a vice president for institutional diversity.</p>
<p>On the other hand, just under this particular president (who is intellectually very strong, and, apparently, a terrific fundraiser), they’ve just had one kind of incident pile up on top of another (I will spare you the litany). At some point, such as in an incident like this one, you would wish the chair of the Board of Trustees would call Morty up and say, “I will be there, tomorrow, and we will have an all-college convocation and address this sort of thing in no uncertain terms.” (And, for all I know, they are still planning to - I’m not privy to what goes on there.) </p>
<p>To my way of thinking (and, again, I note my lack of information), this should have been a leadership no-brainer. So I don’t quite get it (and they have so much money to do such great things, if they choose…they might even get an extra $10 from me!)</p>
<p>With school ending soon, the Williams President may have missed his window of opportunity for addressing this issue in the way that would have showed real strength and compassion. I wonder what will win out, his ability to raise money, or the college’s concern for image, particularly if there have been other incidents under his watch. He may not last as president with this type of publicity.</p>
<p>I think he really does need to reassure the college community that the Neonazi activity will be kept off-campus, as it threatens a lot of different graoups of people.</p>
<p>The other issue per Hitler that really I think should be remembered at Williams is that although groups such as the Jews, gays, developmentally challenged and others took a very direct hit, so did Americans, Britons and Russians. It’s more than an ethnic issue. Lots of our parents and grandparents fought against the Nazis for the sake of America and the allies.</p>
<p>(By the way is this type of Neonazi activity prevalent on many college campuses? Just as you think you know what happens at college…)</p>
<p>To be fair, we don’t know that this was in fact more than a single student (unlike the manufacturers of the “infernal machine”). There are apparently some (not a huge number) of other students who have come to her defense, citing “free speech”. (It would seem to me to be equally free speech to denounce her and declare her anathema, but the subtlety of legal rights versus moral justification is precisely the education that could have occurred as a result of this incident, and is now strangely lacking, at least as a significant thrust of the college’s leadership. NOTE: I have no special knowledge of what is currently occurring on campus, and I apologize in advance if I’ve mischaracterized recent administration actions or lack thereof.)</p>
<p>Mini:</p>
<p>Here is a summary provided by Morgan Goodwin of the College Council meeting on the subject, as posted at the student’s blog:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It seems to me that play rehearsal is keeping Julia Cordray from participating in the discussion she said she sought to provoke with her Hitler posters. Perhaps the administration could help clear her plate so that she would have time to participate in the discussions?</p>
<p>Must be the alterior motive. On what grounds do you deny her the right to be in school activities? I believe the Supreme Court essentially struck down college speech codes.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/freedom/aaup.html[/url]”>http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/freedom/aaup.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/speech/pubcollege/topic.aspx?topic=campus_speech_codes[/url]”>http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/speech/pubcollege/topic.aspx?topic=campus_speech_codes</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This strikes me as a person who is determined to be offensive. I understand that the college is making a distinction between a targeted hate crime (if she had put the posters on doors of Jewish students) and the more general posting she did, which she obviously thought was funny. At Columbia, several drunk students wrote anti-Semitic, anti-gay ephithets all over the dorm suite of a “friend.” The university reported them to the NYC police and they were prosecuted for a hate crime. I would think that at an LAC, where community is a major part of the experience and the attraction, the college could at least get students to talk about what should happen when one member of the community is this brutally insensitive to other members of the community. A fireside chat with the President on the subject? In the best of all worlds, I would hope the student body at Williams would find its own and individual ways to indicate to this student that she has done something hurtful to fellow students and that they don’t find her antics funny at all.</p>
<p>It looks like Mr. Mary Jane is now threatening with law-suits because his good name has been tarnished.</p>
<p>I don’t understand how engaging in dialogue with Mary-Jane will help anything. At this stage of the game, she should have learned what is and what is not socially acceptable behavior.</p>
<p>Oh… From what I understand, many students at Williams are up-in-arms. Presumably, when the record is published tomorrow, we will have some more information on how this incident was handled.</p>
<p>In my opinion, this is far far far far worse than drunken antics. This woman clearly has an agenda, and wants to make a point (I have no idea what the point is).</p>
<p>Barrons:</p>
<p>No offense, but you are days behind the discussion. There is no “right” to anything at Williams College other than those general rights enumerated by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and subsequent laws identifying protected groups (religion, race, gender, etc). It’s a private college. They can tell Julia to shut up if they want to. They can ban her from participation in extracurricular activities if they want to. </p>
<p>If there is a federal or state legal interest is may be that Julia’s papering of the campus with Hitler posters violates the right of Jewish students and employees (a protected group) to a workplace free from harrassment.</p>
<p>But the question is:</p>
<p>Does Williams have the right to expel Julia???</p>
<p>I suspect that she’ll lay low for at least a little while.</p>
<p>They can expel anyone they want to. She would probably sue. I think that the college would find a way to pursuade her to leave if they wanted to.</p>
<p>Mini’s right, though. What happens to Julia Cordray isn’t really the important issue. In fact, with a stronger stance being taken, fewer people would care about what happens to her.</p>
<p>I presume you have been following the lawsuit threads on the “other blog.”</p>
<p>My main concern about this whole incident is that Mary Jane strikes me as someone who doesn’t necessarily care to listen to others’ input. She doesn’t seem to care that others’ feelings have been hurt, and she seems intent on generating as much shock as possible. I have no doubt that she will sue the college and ephblog and probably us for defamation of character. Kicking her out might generate the national publicity that she undoubtedly desires.</p>
<p>Perhaps but as a school that receives Federal Funds they better have a record of treating others similarly and have it in whatever student handbook they have. I am not sure if they could legally kick anyone out for simply using their free speech rights.</p>
<p>Idad-and others-looks like you have not kept up with basic Mass law. Mass grants private school students broad free speech rights. BTW so does California so don’t get all high and mighty if somebody at Stanford says something you don’t like. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.mit.edu/activities/safe/writings/harassment/mcra-and-harass-policy[/url]”>http://www.mit.edu/activities/safe/writings/harassment/mcra-and-harass-policy</a></p>
<p>I think the issue is not whether or not this nutcase leaves Williams right now, as long as the other students feel safe that they will not have Neonazis from outside on the campus per threats and personal safety. What year is she due to graduate, anyhow?</p>
<p>Instead, I think the main issue is the complete lack of sensitivity with which the school has dealt with her and her boyfriend plastering dorms with posters that have pictures of Hitler. The school has shown little understanding of what this can do to student spirit and the community at large. It doesn’t take much to figure out that Neonazism on the campus of one of the most exclusive campuses in the US spells trouble. Either in terms of feeling threatened or how it looks PR-wise.</p>
<p>Instead, they spoke about free speech and did not deal with the community, or do damage control. This from a school that has a history of discrimination. And at the time that students are sending in final acceptances.</p>
<p>Regardless of the ethnic background of the administators, this was, as one poster wrote, a slam-dunk in terms of how to express sensitivity to its constituents. It’s been done before in similar situations and if they had any management skills, they could have diffused this at the onset.</p>
<p>I think the pres may not survive this debacle. And I also think that some students may go elsewhere now.</p>
<p>barrons:</p>
<p>The reason I say that you are behind on the story is that there has never been any move to kick the girl out or punish her for anti-semitic response to Holocaust Remembrance Day. The “free speech” thing is nothing but a red herring, used by the girl in her “manifesto” to the deans justifying her disgusting anti-semitism.</p>
<p>In the most ironic of twists, it is the girl and her boyfriend who are seeking to limit free speech despite her claim that the anti-semitic posters were intended to provoke discussion. Apparently, she feels she got more discussion than she bargained for. She is now attempting to have her name removed from articles and discussion forums, including a blog where she identified HERSELF by posting her signed “manifesto” to the deans. Apparently she finally figured out the whole Google thing and the implications of being linked to Hitler posters and gross anti-semitism on her future career prospects. This was compounded by research suggesting her boyfriend’s connection to Nazi-propaganda websites, undercutting her denials of bigotry against Jews as a motivation.</p>
<p>The issue is not free speech, but rather the degree to which the college is excerising its option to responding with speech of its own condeming bigotry, anti-semitism, and neo-Nazi affiliations.</p>
<p>BTW, what I have said is that any college president could figure out a way to convince this girl to take some time off, one way or another. For example, she confessed to violations of Massachusetts criminal law in some of her writings. Doh!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I don’t think it will have the slightest impact on either of those. Applicants just don’t pay attention to those sorts of things. </p>
<p>And, there is no constituency within the Williams community that is upset about it enough for any kind of organized action (with the possible exception of some alums). Only 17 students showed up for the Jewish students town hall meeting.</p>