Let's let our anger and dissension over Cal football be replaced by anger and dissension over this story. Missouri football players are going to boycott games over a number of racial incidents on campus and the President's alleged failure to act. Very interesting story.
This is the list of grievances from the person doing the hunger strike:
"...cited incidents in which black student were called racial slurs, the removal of graduate student health insurance subsidies, Missouri's decision to cancel contracts with a local Planned Parenthood clinic, and the swastika drawing."
If that's accurate, the football players come off as a group of people that aren't thinking through their actions very clearly.
I found this in the article. If you read the October 5 incident I was thinking if that happened in Berkeley they could find the guys body at the morgue.
Non-story. Overblown and quite frankly insane reaction to perceived injustices. This coming from a dyed-in-the-wool liberal pinko communist hippie protester type, me. It's awful seeing these usually younger, entitled, myopic "progressives" destroy the real messages of equality, acceptance, love etc. by going ten steps too far in their outrage. I imagine it must be the same feeling a real conservative feels about the bastardization of his party and his good name by the tea party/neocon set. STFU about micro-aggressions. They aren't real.
I don't know, leverage is leverage. The fact it's coming from FB players is different but you can't simply separate sport from society and pretend they don't intersect and are part of the same society. So some FB players joined together and used their leverage. I give them credit for being more that just FB players and being real students with concerns and aspirations. They're kids and don't want a F*CKED up society, good for them for taking a stand.
I agree the protest isn't very focused and the call for the President to resign not practical but the fact that this is happening on an SEC football team not some LGBT Quidditch team at Vassar is very significant, and also shows how deep the flash points of race and class are extending in this country. There will be some rocky years ahead.
I don't know, leverage is leverage. The fact it's coming from FB players is different but you can't simply separate sport from society and pretend they don't intersect and are part of the same society. So some FB players joined together and used their leverage. I give them credit for being more that just FB players and being real students with concerns and aspirations. They're kids and don't want a F*CKED up society, good for them for taking a stand.
Taking a stand has more meaning when their actions have some semblance of sanity and sensibility. They claimed the president ordering mandatory sensitivity training was insufficient...until 2 weeks later when they demanded the sensitivity training be enforced. And they want him to resign for not responding appropriately? Come on. Also, recognize there's no institutional racism here, just jackass citizens/students. And the solution is to make every person affiliated with the university take the sensitivity training. Lovely.
Taking a stand has more meaning when their actions have some semblance of sanity and sensibility. They claimed the president ordering mandatory sensitivity training was insufficient...until 2 weeks later when they demanded the sensitivity training be enforced. And they want him to resign for not responding appropriately? Come on. Also, recognize there's no institutional racism here, just jackass citizens/students. And the solution is to make every person affiliated with the university take the sensitivity training. Lovely.
You say there's no institutional racism in Missouri or the U of Missouri, or just this particular case. Have you ever been to Missouri or understand its place in history, Mason-Dixon, Missouri compromise, asking for admission to the Confederacy, etc.
I don't know, given the university is making $$$ off these amateurs, turn around is fair play. They were recruited as students and they're acting like students, trying to change things. If you bring in African American players and just want them to shut up and play...perhaps you shouldn't recruit them and engage them in the student-athlete in the first place because being a student means engagement with society's issues. Ironically the SEC would now have a major hissy fit if AfAm players were excluded but into the 70s they still wanted that.
I understand that racial tensions are high there for all the reasons mentioned in the article, but it's not clear to me what the university president should have been doing? It's not like he can end racism throughout Missouri in a couple of work days. It sounded like he had an insensitive reaction to a protest where they blocked his car? Beyond showing some leadership by condemning the racial prejudice and working with local law enforcement to arrest those that are committing the crimes what is he suppose to do?
The Admin does pay Pinkel but the players still play the game and ultimately brings in the $$$. Fans aren't paying to see the coach, the admin or mascot...no more than any of us. So yes, this is about money. This is the leverage the players are using - big time FB revenues, alumni ego and the university's rep. Can't say if these guys have the U by the balls but if I were Mizzou, no sudden movements.
So if 30 or so players don't play next Sat or the next. Does Mizzou have enough to field a team against BYU and then Tennessee? Given these are home games, how much will Mizzou lose if the games are called off?
I agree, and it's not just Missouri that loses money. The problem is if the team stands as one like the coach is saying, none of the players will play in the games. I don't really see a situation where 30 black players decide they aren't playing, and then all the other players (presumably predominantly white) decide to play. The administration can't support that either. They are going to have to make some compromises that are for the good of the university and the state. They may have to donate much of the proceeds for the rest of the games to some of the causes mentioned. The governor is going to have to step in and help resolve the impasse before it becomes even a bigger problem.
At the risk of pissing off a bunch of people here, this is just further evidence of the pussification of America's youth.
This is nothing like the Donald Sterling issue. Not even close.
Using leverage to get what you want is very American. The President isn't likely to resign, but they'll get several things on their wish list met. More so than if they'd done nothing. I don't agree with them, generally, but I get it.
Anyway, the youth is always softer, less involved, less moral, more dependent etc than whatever generation, place and time we best associate with.
Most of you too young to remember. In the late sixties, Coach named Lloyd Eaton built Wyoming into a national power of sorts. Sun Bowl Champs one year when there wrre about 7-8 bowls. Nearly beat- make that should have beat LSU on Sugar Bowl. Eaton is recruiting NFL talent. He had that thing rolling. Then black players went on strike - do not remember why. The program has never recovered. Make no mistake, the future of the Mizzou program is on the line. Try recruiting in the South if there is even a hint of racism or perceived racism.
"My most recent experience was while jogging on Route K in May of 2015 when I was approached by a white man in a white truck with a Confederate flag very visible and proudly displayed.
He leaned out his window (now, keep in mind I run against traffic, so his behavior was a blatant sign that something was about to happen). Not only did he spit at me, he called me the n-word and gave me the finger....
And yes, I have had a few faculty call me the n-word and treat me with incredible disrespect. Yes, faculty."
"My most recent experience was while jogging on Route K in May of 2015 when I was approached by a white man in a white truck with a Confederate flag very visible and proudly displayed. He leaned out his window (now, keep in mind I run against traffic, so his behavior was a blatant sign that something was about to happen). Not only did he spit at me, he called me the n-word and gave me the finger....
And yes, I have had a few faculty call me the n-word and treat me with incredible disrespect. Yes, faculty."
Shocking indeed. I can't read the piece behind the paywall. Was it too dark to get the license plate# or was she too troubled by the incident (understandable) to do so? Did the "few" faculty call her the n-word when she didn't yet have tenure, or is her associate prof. position lacking full tenure, or was she simply too intimidated until now to speak out? Given that she now has gone public with this serious accusation which paints the journalism school and university in a very bad light, she will probably now be pressured/encouraged by some of her colleagues (inside & outside the j-school) to specifically name those faculty members. That story might not be over.
ShareBear;842587797 said:
Non-story. Overblown and quite frankly insane reaction to perceived injustices. This coming from a dyed-in-the-wool liberal pinko communist hippie protester type, me. It's awful seeing these usually younger, entitled, myopic "progressives" destroy the real messages of equality, acceptance, love etc. by going ten steps too far in their outrage. I imagine it must be the same feeling a real conservative feels about the bastardization of his party and his good name by the tea party/neocon set. STFU about micro-aggressions. They aren't real.
The black student-athletes have some very legitimate grievances yet hurt their cause by claiming "systemic" racism and making some excessively disproportionate demands: the president must "acknowledge his white male privilege," he has to issue a "handwritten apology" to be read aloud at a press conference, even after said public apology acknowledging WMP and other sins he must still resign or else be fired, the school must establish a 10% quota of blacks holding campus jobs and "create and enforce comprehensive racial awareness and inclusion curriculum" and allocate more "funding, resources, and personnel for the social justices centers on campus."
socaliganbear;842587876 said:
Using leverage to get what you want is very American. The President isn't likely to resign, but they'll get several things on their wish list met. More so than if they'd done nothing. I don't agree with them, generally, but I get it.
beelzebear;842587802 said:
I don't know, leverage is leverage. The fact it's coming from FB players is different but you can't simply separate sport from society and pretend they don't intersect and are part of the same society. So some FB players joined together and used their leverage. I give them credit for being more that just FB players and being real students with concerns and aspirations. They're kids and don't want a F*CKED up society, good for them for taking a stand.
Careful, folks. That type of short-sighted, overbearing, political maneuvering could seriously back-fire and actually exacerbate problems you're attempting to solve. In the long-run, the parties most negatively affected by this strike/boycott will be up-and-coming prep school black student-athletes looking for college sports scholarships if every time some individual dumb@ss says or does something racist a federal case or civil rights movement/protest is started (i.e. substantially the entire school, its leadership, and white student body is condemned as "systemically" prejudiced instead of the focus being that the actual guilty individuals be punished to the fullest extent for their unacceptable behavior).
Btw have you all HEARD-seen the following exchange from last Thursday: [video=youtube;9IEFD_JVYd0][/video]
Quote:
[SIZE=3][FONT=century gothic]On November 5, 2015, students at Yale University gathered on campus to protest an email sent by Associate Master of Silliman College Erika Christakis on October 30. Christakis' email responded to a separate email from the school's Intercultural Affairs Council that asked students to be thoughtful about the cultural implications of their Halloween costumes.
Christakis argued that the council's email was infantilizing and threatened free expression on campus. There was also a concern that because the email was long, detailed, had 13 signatories, and links to acceptable and unacceptable costumes, it would not be interpreted as a rule. But rather it had the "color of law" implicit within it.
FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff was on Yale's campus during the protests on November 5 and captured this footage on his cell phone of Christakis' husband, Nicholas, meeting with the protestors. By the time Lukianoff arrived on the scene, Nicholas had been speaking with the protesters for about an hour.
The Washington Post reports that students have begun to organize formal demands for the resignation of Christakis and her husband.[/FONT][/SIZE]
It's an issue over here in Tennessee because the Volunteers are scheduled to visit Missouri next Saturday. We are not sure how long this will go on.
The consensus feeling here is disappointment with this entire movement and how the players' protest interrupts the flow of football activities and might put that game in jeopardy.
But I, on the other hand, don't see it that way. This goes beyond football, in my opinion. We are talking about a state that has had a long history of racial intolerance and injustice. Apparently, there are people at the University of Missouri who believe that it was time to take a stand against this racial friction and believe that President Wolfe and the administration have done very little to address it. What does that tell your students and faculty? It tells them that this racial injustice is a non-issue or it is acceptable.
Our conscience should tell us that it is not now nor should it ever be or ever have been acceptable. It's great to see that students and faculty alike are taking a stand against what is clearly wrong. President Wolfe might not have any direct control over this situation, but he should at least do something. Address the problem. Make a statement. Demonstrate that you know something about it. If he refuses to do so, then it sends a message that he condones this type of racist atmosphere, and there is no place in the academic landscape for that. If he fails to act, then he should resign.
Addressing Halloween costumes as an issue at Yale? Unbelievable. I won't read the article because I agree that institutional directives about costumes IS infantile. Dress up as anything you wish. If it's highly offensive, you may get your a--- kicked. No need for institutional directives.
Absolutely. If they were REAL AMURRCAN MEN, they wouldn't bother with protests and boycotts, they'd exercise their 2nd amendment rights and blow away the president and the rest of the campus...
Absolutely. If they were REAL AMURRCAN MEN, they wouldn't bother with protests and boycotts, they'd exercise their 2nd amendment rights and blow away the president and the rest of the campus...
The reason I think this is a big deal is that the players and football were not the issue, but they embraced the issue as their own-not only black players but white ones and the coach-and used their power to force change. This is about a lot more than Halloween at Yale and it's also interesting to me that this and the first openly gay football player came out of the same place.
