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Sunday, February 29, 2004
Interim Entry: 'The Cross-Burning Incident' In Claremont
I'm currently waiting on some of my anti-abortion friends to get back with me with their perspectives on the abortion issue (it's necessary for the next entry). It may be a few more days, so I'm going to write something quick and easy in the meanwhile, just to keep this blog active and let all my fans out there know that no, I am not dead. I just had a bad last couple of weeks- something due in every class, blah blah blah. Fortunately for all of you, Spring Break is coming up and I plan on finishing my abortion series then and getting some other stuff down too. Anyways, onto the topic of discussion.
As everyone knows, I attend Scripps College, one of the five Claremont Colleges in Claremont, California. Everyone is also pretty well-aware of the fact that I hate it here and have every intention of leaving and never returning once this semester's over (I'll write a detailed series of epinions and post them on here). One of the primary reasons I'm leaving is that I don't mesh well with the rest of the student body in that they liberal to the point of blind intolerance. I'm fairly liberal myself, but other students and a few professors have been completely rude to me for refusing to toe the party line. This incident just illustrates my point.
It all started back during Winter Break. Four students (two from Harvey Mudd, one from Scripps, and one for CMC) discovered what they thought was a piece of trash constructed of metal, wood, and draped in cloth on Pomona's campus. They took it to Harvey Mudd's campus and (in accordance with Mudder tradition) burned it. At the time, they didn't think it was a big deal. However, once campus maintenance discovered the remains and the Harvey Mudd administration launched an investigation, all four students came forward. They stated that they thought they were burning garbage, not art, and that they had no idea their actions could have been construed as being racially motivated.
That's the official story as reported by the President of Scripps College. Of course, it doesn't make for a good story and you can't protest it, so the students and administration at Pomona had a field day spinning this incident of clear student idiocy and not much else into a hate crime. There were forums. There were protests. There were marches. There were angry editorials in every student-run newspaper. "CROSS BURNING INCIDENT! RACISM! HATE CRIME!" Even professors called for the revelation of the students' identities and demanded their expulsion.
It was all enough to turn one's stomach. Hailing from a place where cross-burnings actually occur (although I haven't heard of one happening since 1999), I can say two things: I know what constitutes a hate crime and I know that this wasn't one.
Let's think about this long and hard. In order for something to be considered a hate crime, in this case a cross-burning, those involved must know exactly what they are doing. They must intend to intimidate or harass members of a minority with their actions. This obviously isn't what happened.
My most compelling proof that this isn't a hate crime is simply when it occurred: Winter Break. There was no-one on campus for them to intimidate. The event didn't become well-known until around two or three weeks after the fact. Where's the intimidation there? That's not how cross-burners and other racists operate. Furthermore, the students did not proclaim any kind of racist intentions- quite the opposite. Racial terrorist groups are always willing to claim responsibility for hate crimes of this variety. It just doesn't fit right.
Secondly, I suggest we look at the administrative reactions. The administrators at Scripps, CMC, and Mudd are all taking the fall for these students, opening themselves up to extremely harsh criticisms on the behalves of these students. When have you ever heard of a college taking the fall for its students? That almost never happens. Most colleges would rather let the students fry than risk their reputations. The fact that the schools are willing to protect the students involved and not throw them to the wolves at the schools' expenses speaks volumes.
Furthermore, given the extremely (politically) liberal nature of most college administrations (especially at Scripps), the would have been dealt with differently if the administrations had truly believed it was a hate crime. There is no doubt in my mind that they all would have been expelled over it.
Sure, what they did was really stupid and insensitive, but it wasn't a hate crime. I think it's really terrible the way everyone jumped on the Scripps, Mudd, and CMC administrations over this issue without knowing all of the facts. I think that all the fallout and turmoil caused by this incident have been completely unnecessary, pointless, and stupid and have only served to divide the student bodies at the colleges.
I think this is evidence of much larger problems. It seems like if the students here don't have anything to protest, they die. They always have to be complaining and whining about something, and are willing to create mountains out of molehills to serve this end. There are serious gaps in communication between administrations and students that need to be rectified so events like this can't be blown out of proportion by student bodies. The liberal reactionaryism (for lack of a better/real word) here is another problem. Students have become so blinded by political correctness and what-not that they can't understand it when something outside of that happens. All of these things have concerned me since I got here and only serve to reinforce my belief that the political environment here is completely hostile and intolerant. I can't wait to leave. I just hope I don't accidentally do something that might be construed as potentially offensive to any minority group before then- I don't fancy a lynching.
Posted by Lauren at 11:30 AM
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