Racism at Smith

<p>I think the author of the second piece was just trying to illuminate the fact that that discussion of race related topics on campus are largely taboo due to an overwhelming fear that one might give offense and be thought of as a “bad person”. Thus, honest race-related (and class and gender related) discussions tend to go underground to non-official forums like the Jolt or the lunch table, with the resulting effect being that little real progress gets made. It isn’t that Smithies don’t talk about race, it’s just that I’ve noticed we don’t tend to talk about race where it matters. </p>

<p>The hope of the race issue was to break through this barrier by offering Smithies an official forum in which to express their opinions. Unfortunately, the Sophian didn’t receive enough submissions to make a full issue like they wanted to, so they published these pieces as op-eds instead. It’s very telling IMO that the Sophian couldn’t drum up enough submissions, but you can make your own judgements on that. </p>

<p>it isn’t that Smith is a police state, but if you ask around, people will probably tell you that there is a sort of “general consensus” on campus surrounding how certain issues can and can’t be approached. Unfortunately, race is usually one of those issues, but as the editorials reveal, we’re working on that.</p>