Wanna read a garbled rant? Here you go!

Oh, there are SO many things I need to be doing instead of writing. But writing soothes the savage beast, or so I hear...

There have been a lot of things percolating around here. I went to a panel on free speech in schools tonight, which was not well attended because it was not well advertised. But part of the reason (I think) it was not well advertised was because it was in response to a controversy in the spring over the school's Satire. In short, the show, which was meant to be funny, parodied some individuals in an allegedly racially stereotyped way. These individuals (along with a couple others who were portrayed negatively for their stance on pornography, and for their physical attributes) set up a town hall, with a professor moderating, and there was some good dialogue there. About half the room (which seats about 150 and which was overflowing - people couldn't even get in after a while, and there was security checking student IDs) were black students.

There was a LOT of tension in the black student community about the Satire, not only inter-group, but also intra-group along socio-economic lines. Those who had been offended by their portrayal in the Satire tended to be from poorer backgrounds -- one woman felt she had been portrayed as "ghetto." (Funny - when I told this to an acquaintance of mine, he asked, "Well, is she?")

I've had several conversations, with friends, with strangers, with groups of people and individuals, about the Satire and the ensuing controversy and tension. The town hall was productive in providing suggestions about how to prevent this from happening again (and there have been criticisms in the past about the individual portrayals), but to me it seemed to miss the crucial point: non-black students just could not imagine what it was like for the offended black students to watch those portrayals on stage. There was a basic lack of understanding that went beyond artistic freedom and audience reaction -- this was a cultural, racial divide that the town hall barely touched on.

I was riveted the whole 2 hours of that town hall. Standing the entire time, I listened to people say they'd never heard such an open discussion about race at this school before now. And I thought, that's a bleeding shame. There are so many things that divide us. Why, in a community of articulate, sensitive, intelligent young poeple, can't we find a way to bridge that gap in understanding?

I don't know why. But it bothers me that the school itself isn't doing more to encourage discussion and openness about the issue -- not just specifically about the Satire, but the Balkanization of students into their ethnic organizations, the lack of communications between said organizations, the fear that nonblack students have about talking about race, the alienation of low-income students... and so on.

I'm not an activist, and I don't want to be one, but there are so many things about this place that make me angry. I get angry about the extravagance (see: outdoor ice skating rink with free skate rental -- I kid you not -- the past 3 years); the infantilization (free coffee! free feminine hygiene! free printing!); the way the administration seems to want to engage only on the "fun" things and remain silent, for example, about the peeper who violated the privacy of several women dorm residents last year; the silence about the creepy caller who was systematically calling female dorm residents last year; the silence about the Satire (which was even worse because THE DEAN PERFORMED IN IT); the way the dean threatened to pull funding from the student practice organizations, which actually attempt to HELP people; the ridiculous amounts of money thrown at us in every form; the catering to firm recruitment; the admissions policy of taking smart kids who don't know what they want to do and get channeled into firms; the lack of guidance for those who don't want to be channeled; the way you have to strategize about which classes to take, and how to study for exams... oh, and that's just what I can think of off the top of my head.

Okay, venting is over. It's past 11 and I haven't read for con law in a week, and no amount of venting changes the fact that I have exams in two weeks.