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Just making themselves look bad. |
Reed College protesters shut down a "Eurocentric" humanities lecture on Aug. 28, 2017.
(Facebook)
An anti-racism student group at one
of America's most liberal colleges entered the 12th day of an
administrative building occupation Friday.
The group at Reed College in
Portland, Ore., called for the school to cut ties to Wells Fargo Bank
over its relationship with privately run prisons and stop teaching what
it called a “whitewashed” curriculum that is too focused on the ideas
and accomplishments of white Europeans and their descendants.
The group, called Reedies Against Racism (RAR), has been camping out in college President John Kroger's office.
The students say that a mandatory humanities course
dubbed “Hum 110” focuses overtly on European thought leaders, leading to
"whitewashing" of the students' education. The course has long been a
target of the school's left-leaning activists, who successfully shut
down an Aug. 28 lecture on Ancient Greece.
“We believe that the first lesson that freshmen should
learn about Hum 110 is that it perpetuates white supremacy — by
centering ‘whiteness’ as the only required class at Reed,” reads a RAR
declaration delivered to all new students, the Atlantic reported.
“The required freshman course should be reformed to represent the voices of people of color,” read the demands
posted online. “Before this is accomplished, Hum 110 should be
conscious of the power it gives to already privileged ideas and welcome
critique of that use of power.”
The group also demands that Reed College cut ties with Wells Fargo Bank over its links to the private prison system.
A rotating team of up to 40 students has been camping
inside the president’s office, with some reportedly sleeping there in
tents, prompting the college to close down its finance office and
transport sensitive documents to a new location, the Washington Times reported.
Reed College protesters.
(Facebook)
The college was forced to issue around two-dozen
no-contact orders to the protesters over the harassment of school staff
members.
”You have been identified as having participating in an
incident on Thursday, October 26, 2017, that resulted in the reported
harassment of a college staff member,” reads a letter issued by Mike Brody, vice president of student services, ordering students to cease such actions.
The letter also outlined possible consequences for the
occupation of the building and harassment of staff, including “complete
expulsion” from the college.
“We condemn this behavior,” Kroger wrote in an Oct. 27
email to the campus community, according to the Washington Times. “This
conduct violates the principles of respectful dialogue upon which this
community is based. Dissent is encouraged at Reed, but harassment is
not.”
Despite talks between the faculty and protesters, it remained unclear when a solution would be found.
"We don't assume we are going to agree anytime soon," Brody told
Fox 12.
"But we need to find a way to disagree productively so that we can
honor each other's positions and perspectives and try to find a path
forward."