roachboy

there is no centralized decision=making chain in this sort of situation within a university, so chances are that a residence life committee decided to institute this program and the central administrative structure wouldn't know anything about it in particular, nor would they be terribly concerned about it, as individual administrative zones have a fair degree of autonomy.

such programs are typically really boring affairs and people dont necessarily enjoy sitting through these sessions. i am not sure that the complaints, such as they are, cannot be understood as responses to the dullness of such affairs.

i dont see a problem with the program, however: even if one were to throw judgment out the window and assume for a moment that the far right wingnut interpretations floated in the op were in some sense of the term "accurate" i still am not sure i see the problem. students have to do alot of things they dont necessarily like in a residence hall===and i would wager that no matter how boring these sessions are, they are still better than eating dining hall food.

at any rate, this brings me back around the the question i posed to ustwo twice, and which he has dodged twice, even going so far as to play that silly projection game wherein he gets to say that i am the one not answering the question.

so where is your objection to the programs, really, ustwo?
do you oppose the idea that racism is a bad thing?
do you oppose the idea that sustainable practices are perhaps good to know about and maybe even to implement where possible?
do you oppose notions of social justice?


=========
albania: you were posting while i was---the details of how the program is implemented seem to be at the center of this--but this is also what ibertuber has been saying.

personally, i dont think this type of program has to be patronizing--i would think that any good it could possibly do would be undermined if it was--they should be presented in ways that encourage debate, encourage critical reflection and argument.

i've done a fair amount of work in programs like this. but usually on particular issues in the world (iraq) rather than on problematic attitudes within the university. when i have done them, they are generally organized as spurs for debate, so the trick is to provoke the students, encourage them to not believe you, to do research for themselves and articulate their own positions.

whether it works or not isnt clear---you hope that the conversation continues after the sessions are over, but there's also the lure of watching television of hanging out or doing whatever else one does to amuse oneself in a residence hall.
personally, i think many many undergraduates tend to be intellectually lazy as well. that is a problem at all kinds of levels, but probably isnt terribly germaine here--unless it factors in to explaining such "reactions" as there were to the delaware program.

__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite