A Past School Controversy
At some point in an undergraduate career, it’s only inevitable that there is going to be some sort of controversial whirlwind storming over a university. This has been true in universities across the nation, regardless of student size or demographic. For example, the choice of Columbia University to have Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, debate at the school last September was nationally derided as an unnecessary inclusion (encouragement, even) of someone who symbolizes and encourages hatred of America. The aftermath of the event followed with further ridicule at the ignorance of President Ahmadinejad about the modern concept of diverse sexuality: President Ahmadinejad stated, “In Iran we don’t have homosexuals like in your country.”
You know what they say about people who hate something too much…
This is a really damning photo. “Think! Think with your heart!” *points to head*
(Photo Link)
The Columbia University discussion fired among the public was a serious <laughing> matter, though, controlled by the decision of the administration. Is it different when a national debate is offset by actions of the student body?
In my experience, it seems to elicit as much of an uproar but there are certainly more fears of doom and danger —> sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll <— when students cause a clamor that doesn’t even begin to match the importance of Columbia University’s recognizance of the Iranian President. At my school, the Johns Hopkins University, this has happened two years in a row!
Last year, there was a huge national condemnation for a Halloween party held by the Sigma Chi fraternity chapter here. The fraternity had a pirate skeleton hung by a noose and a ‘thugs in the ghetto’ type invitation on Facebook sent out to encourage people to come. As with other universities, the party had its characteristic noise and chaos (and probably inebriation). After the party, the Black Student Union (BSU) of the university, led by a group of students, stated that Sig Chi’s party had offended them as they perceived the skeleton hanging to deliberately allude to lynchings of Blacks. Further, the BSU felt that the Facebook invitation had been insensitive to the area that surrounded the school (Baltimore City) and was inherently racist.
The two points by the BSU seemed, at first, valid to me. I’m not associated with any fraternity, or even Greek society. In fact, I have no lost love for frats and sororities, at least not the cultural stereotype by which the movies have so jaded us. In this way, I was quite outraged by the actions of the fraternity, though I was unaware of the details of the case.
I actually found the story out from my father, who called to ask me about the matter, which was slapped across national news media. I was a little confused at first because I had not heard about it at all! Most students at Johns Hopkins are constantly in the library or their rooms. It’s even more the nerd school than it may be known. We live in a ‘bubble’ in the middle of a city with one of the highest rates of homicide in America; yet, JHU has the highest percentage of international students of any university in the country. Beyond that, many students are out-of-state residents and have not ventured into the “real” Maryland at all. Due to the location of Hopkins inside the city limits, there are also stringent limits to parking (barely anyone has a car).
After reading up on the BSU’s claims and cross-referencing that with what I knew about the people involved, I started seeing a different truth than the one portrayed in the media and in the eyes of outsiders. Sigma Chi was a multicultural fraternity, with Asian, Black, and White members. The president of the fraternity was an Asian guy as well. Sigma Chi had the same party decorations and similar environment the year before without any complaints. I think it is entirely possible that the BSU overblew the symbolic significance of the party, doing a great deal of damage to JHU’s reputation and to the lives of Sigma Chi members. In fact, while leading individuals in BSU were given airtime in national news discussions and newspaper quotes, leaders of Sigma Chi were very harshly punished (year-long suspension, ruined academic and ethics records, etc.). I believe that Sigma Chi may have behaved foolishly, but were not ill-willed in their intentions.
JHU does not take outside disapproval lightly; administrators will go to great lengths to ensure that no amount of the university image is tarnished. Johns Hopkins, the school, is as much an academic entity as it is a corporate interest. In everything that happens at this school, there are ramifications on the University (JHU) level as well as the Institution (Johns Hopkins Institutions) level. So in going to redeem the name of the school to the public, officials heavily punished a bunch of kids (it will affect their whole lives) for something that was significantly less offensive than portrayed. It’s too late to change what happened, but maybe we can learn something about looking that facts as they stand instead of how they’re represented.
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