Sunday, April 10, 2016

Slow Saturday Special: Under the Table at Harvard

"Harvard Law students say they found recording device hidden under table" by Steve Annear Globe Staff  April 08, 2016

A group of Harvard Law School students who have been occupying a room on campus to host conversations about inequality and racial diversity say they discovered a recording device this week secretly attached to the bottom of a table.

Activists from the group Reclaim Harvard Law School said Friday that they fear the device, which can be voice-activated, was being used to pick up sensitive conversations about sexual assault and race that was held between students who thought they were in a “safe space.”

Since February, the group has been occupying the Haas Lounge of the law school’s Caspersen Student Center, which they renamed Belinda Hall, a reference to a woman enslaved by the family of Isaac Royall, whose fortune was used to help establish a law professorship at Harvard.

The goal of the occupation is to create an Office of Diversity and Inclusion, where students and staff can come together to “combat our school’s systemic racism and exclusion,” says the group, which also hosts events and lectures in the space.

The group members said they do not know who may have hidden the recorder beneath the table. But they believe it was put there specifically “to surveil our movement.”

Law school officials said Friday that they have referred the matter to the Harvard University Police Department. The incident is under investigation.

Titilayo Rasaki, a second-year law student and one of the group’s members, said that since the recorder was discovered, members of the group and outside visitors have felt on edge, and have been hesitant to continue having personal conversations of a sensitive nature at the hall.

Members of the group plan to do a “sweep” of the hall to look for any additional devices, she said.

“This was a safe space for us to have candid conversation, where people could be honest with each other and figure out a way to move forward,” said Rasaki. “It has had a chilling effect on the purpose of why we took over the space in the first place.”

The discovery of the recording device comes as the law school is grappling with complaints about its handling of issues of diversity....

See: Letter From College

Signed, God.

Also see:

Sex assault prevention report highlights Harvard ‘final clubs’

Harvard names new public health school dean

She said it is a great honor to be the housemother.

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NEXT DAY UPDATE:

"Princeton will keep Woodrow Wilson name on buildings, but expand diversity efforts" by Nick Anderson Washington Post  April 05, 2016

WASHINGTON — Princeton University will keep President Woodrow Wilson’s name on its school of public and international affairs and on a residential college, despite calls to expunge his name from the Ivy League campus because of his staunch support of racial segregation.

Of course, his foisting enslavement upon us via the Federal Reserve isn't a topic of conversation. 

Keep it under your hat, but I'm sick of all the agenda-pushing garbage in my jew$paper.

But the university’s board of trustees on Monday pledged to expand Princeton’s commitment to diversity and inclusion and to be transparent ‘‘in recognizing Wilson’s failings and shortcomings as well as the visions and achievements that led to the naming of the school and the college in the first place.’’

Wilson was president of Princeton from 1902 to 1910, reshaping the university significantly at the outset of the 20th century. A Democrat born in Virginia before the Civil War, he was elected 28th president of the United States in 1912 and reelected in 1916.

His two terms in the White House, as a leader of the progressive movement, put a lasting stamp on the nation’s domestic institutions. He was a key international leader during and after World War I. But Wilson also espoused views on racial segregation that led to significant setbacks for African-Americans in their quest for civil rights.

Yeah, he lied us into that war, too -- so the merchants of death could get rich.

In November, student protesters occupied the office of Princeton’s president, Christopher Eisgruber. They demanded that the university take steps to improve the racial climate on campus, including removing the Wilson name from important buildings. Eisgruber agreed to refer the issue to the board of trustees.

So nice to see the pre$$ finally picking up the gauntlet for Occupy, huh?

To those who questioned the uprising over the Wilson legacy, students in a group called the Black Justice League wrote in December that Princeton for too long had papered over Wilson’s faults.

‘‘We have demanded that the university not just remove his name but also take responsibility for its history by formally recognizing Wilson’s racist legacy, either with a plaque or with a web page,’’ they wrote. ‘‘To continue to honor such a man in the present manner is to spit in the face of students whose presence on this campus Wilson would have abhorred.’’

Eisgruber, who took office in 2013, said Monday that he had learned from the debate over Wilson’s record. Too often, he said, the university has spoken ‘‘almost hagiographically’’ about Wilson, trumpeting his virtues without exploring his faults. 

Hey, that's the history I was taught. Never a mention of his racism in those books, nor the name Rothschild.

Eisgruber acknowledged he had contributed to that problem. He recalled a 2014 commencement speech in which he discussed in uplifting terms Wilson’s time as a student at Princeton — when he went by the name ‘‘Tommy’’ — without considering his divisive racial legacy.

‘‘I would never give that speech now in the way I gave it then,’’ Eisgruber said. ‘‘I was not sufficiently sensitive to what his racism would have meant to some of the students and families in my audience.’’ 

Let the politically-correct inculcation and self-censorship continue at Princeton, 'eh?

Eisgruber said it is high time for the university to present Wilson in a more balanced light. As an example, he pointed to a new historical exhibit on Wilson that opened at the university’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Princeton trustees decided to name the school for Wilson in 1935, or 11 years after his death. The university’s first residential college was named for him on the recommendation of students in the 1950s and 1960s.

Brent Henry, an African-American, lived in the Wilson College and attended the Wilson School before graduating from Princeton in 1969. Henry, now a Princeton trustee, chaired a committee that was formed last fall to review Wilson’s legacy.

‘‘Despite his racist attitudes, we felt it was more important to maintain the name and make sure everybody was aware of his flaws,’’ Henry said.

The views on the committee on the name question were not unanimous.

Still racists at Princeton.

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RelatedRick Scott says Yale should move to Florida 

Ever notice race and gender take the discussion of cla$$ and Jewish supremacism off the agenda in my jew$paper??

"Duke University official apologizes to parking attendant" Associated Press  April 05, 2016

DURHAM, N.C. — A Duke University administrator at the center of a sit-in outside the office of the school president apologized Monday, saying his behavior was neither civil nor respectful.

The statement from Tallman Trask III about a dispute two years ago with a parking attendant was posted on the school’s website Monday.

‘‘While the details of what happened are a matter of disagreement and subject of civil litigation, I recognize that my conduct fell short of the civility and respectful conduct each member of this community owes to every other,’’ the statement reads.

A lawsuit filed last month by Shelvia Underwood, a contract traffic control officer, accuses Trask of using a racial slur against her.

Trask has said Underwood refused to let him park in his usual spot and stepped in front of his car. He has denied making any racial comment.

Protesters camped outside the office of school president Richard Brodhead for a fourth day Monday, demanding the firing of Trask and two other administrators.

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UPDATEHarvard unveils plaque in memory of slaves