Those celebrating the holiday with any Harvard students may have a real treat in store. That’s because, as Campus Reform reported, the university is handing out a “placement” for students, as “a guide for holiday discussions on race and justice with loved ones.”
The placement was created by the Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. The freshman’s dean’s office collaborated with the effort, and the placemats were then distributed at a dining hall.
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Included are four topics to discuss for the holidays. “House Master Title,” and “Black Murders in the Street.”
Yale Student Activism
Sample relative: “Why are Black students complaining? Shouldn’t they be happy to be in college?”
Response: “When I hear students expressing their experiences of racism on campus I don’t hear complaining. Instead I hear young people uplifting a situation that I may not experience. If non-Black students get the privilege of that safe environment, I believe that same privilege should be given to all students.”
Islamaphobia/Refugees
Sample relative: “We shouldn’t let anyone in the US from Syria, We can’t guarantee that terrorists won’t infiltrate the ranks of refugees. They’ve already done it in France.”
Response: “The US has been accepting refugees from areas around the world for decades. Remember the wars in Central America? They were extremely violent, and the US accepted refugees from all sides of the wars with very strict vetting and not one incident of violence. Racial justice includes welcoming Syrian refugees.”
House Master Title
Sample relative: “Why did they change the name? What does a housemaster have to do with slavery? It’s not related to that at all.”
Response: “For some, the term master, used to describe, stewardship of a group of people (such as a house), is reminiscent of slave masters and the legacy of slavery. The title, “House Master,” is no longer actively associated with its historical antecedents nor is used to address House Masters. Given the name is offensive to groups of people, it doesn’t seem onerous to change it. The mastery of a subject is an understandable use of the word. However, within our cultural and historical context, implying mastery of people feeds both inappropriate and ill-founded. There are other words we could use such as “head of house.”
Black Murders in the Street
Sample relative: “Why didn’t they just listen to the officer? If they had just obeyed the law this wouldn’t have happened.”
Response: “Do you think the response would be the same if it was a white person being pulled over? In many incidents that result in the death of a black body in the street, these victims are not breaking the law and are unarmed. With Tamir Rice, he was a 12-year old boy playing in the park. When the officers pulled up they gave no verbal commands and shot within two seconds arriving at the scene. He was not breaking any laws; he was given no orders to obey.
Writing for the Harvard Crimson, Idrees M. Kahloon, who calls the placemat “groupthink,” notes where the taking points came from:
Campus Reform spoke with Associate Director of Communications Rachel Dane about the placemats:
These complicated issues are portrayed in a rather white and black way, with very white and black relatives and responses. How kind for the university to lend a helping hand in such a way.
In response to the placemat, the Harvard College Republicans came up with their own placemat, which they shared on their Facebook.
