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November 12, 2007
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Staging bias
At the University of New Hampshire each fall, something called the "Bias Gallery" goes on tour in the dorms. A photographic collection of recent campus incidents, the gallery recasts those incidents as aesthetic artifacts--and as such makes a tacit acknowledgement of how UNH is staging "bias" as a way of authenticating it. It's also, along the way, revealing a sensibility that has much in common with that of the folks who like to build Tunnels of Oppression, and with that of the University of Delaware, which recently yanked its entirely over-the-top residential indoctrination program.
Each year, UNH's Office of Residential Life brings the Bias Gallery; a collection of discriminatory incidents that have occurred on campus over the last couple of years to the dorms, and the gallery is currently making its way across campus. It has already been featured in several dorms within the past week or so and still has several more to visit. The gallery is part of the Diversity Engagement section of the University's Mission Statement. According to a document on the Office of Residential Life's website, the Bias Gallery is something that should be shown in every dorm at least once a year and is "very powerful."The Bias Gallery is essentially a collection of photographs of bias-related incidents that have taken place at UNH, mainly within the dorms. The gallery is typically set up in a dorm lounge, where students walk through silently, viewing and reflecting on the acts of discrimination displayed.
Jay Tifone, hall director of Jessie Doe Hall, has a lot of knowledge about the Bias Gallery as a UNH Residential Life faculty member, and feels that it is significant for students to view.
"I think it's important for students to see the Bias Gallery because it's a tangible example of the ignorance and hate that occurs across campus," Tifone said. "I often hear students say as they're leaving, 'I had no idea that this happened on campus.' If you're in a majority group and your friends are too you might never see such discrimination occurring."
A document released by UNH's Affirmative Action and Equity Office states that, between Nov. 5, 2006 and Apr. 15, 2007, there were 39 bias or hate incidents reported on the UNH campus. --28 of which occurred in the residence halls and 30 of these incidents were perpetrated by UNH students.
The thought that fellow students could commit such acts of hate proved to be shocking to many students on campus. Katharine Mooney, 20, a junior at UNH, was one of these students who reflected on her own experience with viewing the Bias Gallery.
"It shocked me, honestly," said Mooney. "Some of the things that students write are so disrespectful it's disgusting. I never thought that a student would draw a swastika on another student's door. But these are the kinds of things you'll find in the Bias Gallery."
I'm not saying it's right to scrawl nasty epithets and hang nooses and the like. It goes without saying that such stuff is repugnant, not to mention hateful and threatening. But it should also be noted that this sort of thing is also not infrequently staged, often because the perpetrator can get some sort of short-lived collateral gain from being a recognized victim (recall, as the most recent example of this pattern, the GWU freshman who inscribed multiple swastiskas on her own door). A balanced Bias Gallery would have the bravery to frame that phenomenon in as well.
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But it should also be noted that this sort of thing is also not infrequently staged, often because the perpetrator can get some sort of short-lived collateral gain from being a recognized victim (recall, as the most recent example of this pattern, the GWU freshman who inscribed multiple swatiskas on her own door). A balanced Bias Gallery would have the bravery to frame that phenomenon in as well.
The Bias Gallery is biased? Tell me it isn't so!
I'm shocked! Shocked!
as a UNH Residential Life faculty member
I found this phrasing curious. The Delaware fiasco grew out of a new "curricular approach" to residence life, and now hall directors with master's degrees in education are being called "faculty members" at UNH.
Yeah! And the Holocaust Museum should have to represent scam artists who claimed to be Holocaust victims! And the Vietnam Veterans Memorial should have a separate wall with the names of men who lied about their military service! And every time we mention rape, we should also mention people who cried wolf!
It's ironic that you see the opposite of "bias" to be "balance" rather than "truth." Who is the relativist? The conservative attack on the academy is based on a postmodern logic of pluralism: as Tom Pynchon wrote, one of each of everything. Only whereas lefties wanted a pluralism of subject positions, the righties want a pluralism of opinions. But what about the truth? It may be a surprise, but Hannity and Colmes both cannot be right!
Crying wolf about bias does not erase the truth of bias on campus. (No more than, say, the conservatives who failed classes and then accused the faculty of being "biased" erase the truth of left-wing bias on some campuses.)
One of the major purposes of higher education (and for that matter, K-12 education) should be learning how to analyze issues and arguments: chains of reasoning, close reading of texts, scientific method. The whole "tunnels of oppression" thing, based on programmed emotional reactions to carefully-chosen images, would seem to seriously undercut this.
RE:
"Yeah! And the Holocaust Museum should have to represent scam artists who claimed to be Holocaust victims! And the Vietnam Veterans Memorial should have a separate wall with the names of men who lied about their military service! And every time we mention rape, we should also mention people who cried wolf!"
Very thinky post. How many tunnels of oppression and campus sensitivity programs have there been that focus on bias against, say, patriotic students and professors? The fact is that all of these reeducation initiatives point in one direction, and that direction is determined by the politics and refined sensitivities of pc functionaries.
According to the UNH website, the campus housing system hosts 6,700 undergraduates. All those kids, and only three dozen "bias-related incidents"? The truth: That's a remarkably civil place to live, even if the "Bias Gallery" is designed to suggest otherwise.
"It may be a surprise, but Hannity and Colmes both cannot be right!"
They can, however, both be wrong. It's not the job of the academy to indoctrinate students in accepting either of their positions, but rather to equip with them the skills and knowledge to be able to intelligently make that determination themselves. If they are only ever exposed to one viewpoint, they may still be able to do that, but probably despite, rather than because of, what they're being taught.
"it's a tangible example of the ignorance and hate that occurs across campus"
Hmmm, these universities sound like terrible, dangerous places. Maybe we should shut them down!
Wow, this is the stupidest thing I have ever read. You are allegedly in favor of free expresssion but you sure don't like it when anyone expresses their own experiences, especially when it documents the existence of hate crimes liek rape or prejudice and bias, that you would like to deny. What a bunch of hypocrites. Perhaps you should investigate the definition of the word biased because you don't appear to know what it means.
Gosh, it seems that comments to Critical Mass are CENSORED. How could this website be any more hypocritical?
Ken,
I can't imagine what gave you that idea, but you are dead wrong. A survey of the comments on this blog--which contains hundreds, if not thousands, of posts from readers who disagree with me and with my positions--should speak for itself. You can apologize anytime, but I won't hold my breath.
