About two years ago, Chapman University recruited Vernon Smith, who’d won the Nobel Prize in economics. Last year, Chapman hired Yakir Aharonov, who has been named by Thomson Reuters as one of the seven most likely people to win the Nobel in physics this year….Really? You wanna know?
Smith, 82, and Aharonov, 76, are still active, but they’re in the twilight of their long careers. Major research schools, like UC Irvine, rarely hire eminent figures who are over the age of 60….
We’d like to know what you think of Chapman’s recruiting practices.
Inside Higher Ed has a story today about political correctness: A Tale of Two Posters.
At Tufts University, … Two weeks ago, In-Goo Kwak, a freshman studying international relations and an immigrant from South Korea, put up a series of posters around his dormitory parodying the campaign poster of Alice Pang, another freshman of Asian descent who was running for the Tufts Community Union Senate. Kwak was not actually running for a student government position, but posted the parody next to Pang’s at the encouragement of his dorm mates….
Pang’s poster included the campaign slogan, “small person, big ideas,” with the exclamation “hurrah!” next to her portrait. Kwak’s parody poster looks strikingly similar in design to Pang’s and includes the slogan “squinty eyes, big vision.” Next to Kwak’s portrait is the word "kimchi!" – a traditional Korean dish. Additionally, where Pang's poster read "vote on Thursday," Kwak's said, “Prease vote me! I work reary hard!” in deliberately broken English….
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“Though this was a satire of [Pang’s] poster, this was not a personal insult in any way,” Kwak said. “I thought it would be funny to satire the oppressive environment of political correctness at Tufts. I think it’s unhealthy that people feel afraid to express their views. One of the Asians on my hall saw the poster and showed it all over campus and eventually the director of the Asian American Center contacted me, but not one of the students who found this offensive contacted me directly. Instead, they had someone else do it.”
Linell Yugawa… did send an e-mail to the entire Tufts community denouncing Kwak's parody, which she called “racist.”
“Many Asian/Asian Americans and individuals of other racial backgrounds have been angered, hurt, and offended by these posters,” Yugawa wrote in a letter co-signed by directors of other groups at the university, such as the Latino Center and the LGBT Center. “The posters not only mocked an authorized campaign poster, but used negative and racist stereotypes that correlate with the discrimination and dehumanization of Asians. These posters go beyond affecting one individual or group, but offend all who have an understanding of how racist stereotypes impact our lives.
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The Tufts administration had a more reserved response to the matter, preferring to let student groups facilitate the discussion Kwak’s poster has stirred.
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Kwak … said that he has since apologized to Pang, explaining the purpose behind his poster, and that she graciously accepted his apology. Pang did not respond to requests for comment.
...
“People are so afraid to talk about this or to express their support of my poster because they’re afraid of getting in trouble with one of the groups on campus,” Kwak said. “And this is happening on a college campus, where people should be comfortable sharing their views. I mean, I was [comfortable]. I put my name on the poster in big letters. There’s this taboo against the discussion of racial issues. I’m not going to be afraid to talk about them, and I’m not going to back down.”….
9 comments:
Chapman: Maybe they could borrow the frozen head of Ted Williams to coach the baseball team.
Tufts: Of course this is a free speech issue, and nobody (except maybe a few Orange County anti-Dissenters) would say that In-Goo Kwak should be punished for his poster.
But read the comments section. One guy says that satire (and clearly, that's what In-Goo Kwak was up to) is appropriate when it attacks the powerful but insulting when it attacks the powerless. That's an interesting idea.
Whaddya think, Roy?
--100 miles
Literary criticism suggests that satire is intended to be both humorous and to bring about a change. Sarcasm, which Pang's poster claims not to be, is what it is: not to bring about change but to belittle and cut down. And without any redeeming qualities.
Is anyone really suggesting that Asians are powerless? That's a hoot.
To my way of thinking, there is a rhetoric of persuasion but also a rhetoric of decency.
I find Kwak's poster to be funny for precisely the reason he gives for distributing it. There is something ridiculous about Yugawa and other leaders--e.g., reacting to Kwak's poster with charges of racism (talk about insensitivity!)--and proceeding as though people are so delicate that any hint of racial/ethnic/etc./ stereotyping inevitably causes depression, despair, and gnashing of teeth. (In my experience, some do become upset but partly because Yugawa and Co insist that that is the appropriate response.) Such people deserve ridicule. They are a (well-meaning) enemy of reason.
On the other hand, likely there are some at Tufts (and everywhere else) who harbor ugly "us/them" attitudes that are actuated and encouraged by Kwak's poster. Surely Kwak recognizes this possibility (this likelihood even) and is pained by it. If not, he should be.
On the other hand (I have several), if one displays these posters as a way to encourage dialogue about "PC" and its oppressiveness, that's great--though, in my experience, these discussions do not usually go far and do not do much good in part because the Yugawas of this world swoop in and tell everyone how to think and feel.
It is usually best to aim satire at the powerful, I suppose, but I would be more comfortable saying one should never wield it at the powerless.
All in all, I would give Kwak a C-. I would give Yugawa, et al. the usual D or F. -R
His poster is pretty funny, you have to admit.
I'd rather have one Vernon Smith at 82 than twenty or thirty of the younger profs I've studied under or worked with. Disclosure: I did my dissertation in experimental economics, which Smith pretty much invented. But I've read him, heard him, and am hereby declaring him Very Cool, even if he does seem to have given up his pony tail and bolo ties.
I just had a great jazz weekend hearing Dave Brubeck (88), Tony Bennett (83), and a big band put together by Bill Holman (82). If it weren't for old people like them, my daughter would be blasting Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers on Radio Disney instead of swooning over "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" from the man himself.
So go easy on old people, please. I hope to earn the right to be one myself someday.
(The only thing about old profs is -- as I learned personally with Fritz Machlup -- that when they're 80 you should not put off getting rec letters from them. Even if they are still winning masters downhill ski races.)
Old star profs are often terrific but Chapman/Doti seem nakedly ambitious more than anything else. If they could buy a reputation on eBay, they would do it in a shot. Doti seems to be very full of himself. I recall when he arrived: immediately, there was a move afoot to eliminate various liberal arts departments. they staged a protest and somehow survived.
Sure, Kwak's poster is funny, but that's not the point. Racist jokes are funny, too, and so are dumb-blonde jokes. But they can be offensive, and we don't tell them in public or to just anyone.
Here's a joke: God was resting on the seventh day and sent the angel Gabriel out to inspect creation. Gabriel returns and tells God,
"Everything looks just dandy, but you forgot to give sex organs to Adam and Eve. I checked the warehouse, and these are all that's left. They're both kind of ugly, so tell me who gets which one?"
God: Give the dick to the dumb one.
That's funny, and part of the reason it's funny is because it turns our stereotypes upside down. It's not going to offend males because we're the ones in power.
--100 miles
Or: Eve's been swimming in the river, and now we can't get the smell off the fish.
Deal with that.
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