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Princeton professor of 'free speech' class uses N-word. Class cancelled for semester
The Weekly Standard ^ | Feb 12 2018 | Adam Rubenstein

Posted on 02/13/2018 11:41:48 AM PST by Personal Responsibility

“Anthropology 212: Cultural Freedoms: Hate Speech, Blasphemy, and Pornography,” a course on freedom of expression at Princeton University has been “reluctantly” cancelled, Professor Lawrence Rosen informed his students in an email obtained by THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Rosen’s email, sent at 2:07 p.m. on February 12, went on to say “I think it only fair that you be free, before too much of the semester has passed, to move ahead in another course of your choosing.”

Last week Prof. Rosen received national attention for using the N-word in this class on freedom of expression. Some students walked out and protested the term’s use. One report, cited in Princeton’s main campus newspaper, says that Rosen asked, “What is worse, a white man punching a black man, or a white man calling a black man a n****r?” And when Rosen was met with disagreement of his use of the N-word, and on his continued use of the term in the academic setting, he said, he would use it, “if I think it’s necessary.”

Why was the course cancelled? Rosen’s email to students didn’t give specifics, other than that his decision had been “reluctant.” Calls and emails to Rosen went unreturned. Michael Hotchkiss of Princeton’s Office of Communications told THE WEEKLY STANDARD that the course’s cancelling “was Professor Rosen’s decision, and there was no pressure from the University.”

One student in the class tells TWS that he believes the course’s cancelling may have had something to do with an interaction that happened “about halfway through the first seminar.” A male student of color stood up, inches from professor Rosen’s face and shouted “FUCK YOU,” this witness claimed. Just before that, a female student of color had shouted at Rosen, as the first was approaching, “do you feel safe right now.” “There was no physical contact,” this witness claims, though at the time the student feared there might be. During that class, “nobody except Rosen defended Rosen,” the student told me. Another student in the class confirmed this account to TWS.

The course’s objectives, as Carolyn Rouse, chair of Princeton’s Department of Anthropology explained in defense of Rosen, was to have students, “be able to argue why hate speech should or should not be protected using an argument other than ‘because it made me feel bad.’” Now that Anthropology 212 has been cancelled, Princeton students have learned a powerful lesson about free speech, though perhaps not the one Rosen intended.


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: freespeech; hatespeech; nword
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"The course’s objectives, as Carolyn Rouse, chair of Princeton’s Department of Anthropology explained in defense of Rosen, was to have students, “be able to argue why hate speech should or should not be protected using an argument other than ‘because it made me feel bad.’” "

"Doctor, it seems this course is dead" "Yes Nurse, cause of death: Irony"

1 posted on 02/13/2018 11:41:48 AM PST by Personal Responsibility
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To: Personal Responsibility

Its always fun when Libealism blows up in a liberals face


2 posted on 02/13/2018 11:48:07 AM PST by Angels27
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To: Personal Responsibility

Good thing he wasn’t reading Mark Twain’s “Life On The Mississippi” - he would have been torched.


3 posted on 02/13/2018 11:48:30 AM PST by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
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To: Personal Responsibility

“because it made me feel bad” is all the current cupcakes need to freak out..... although I admit that I would never try this prof’s little “experiment” in class with speaking the “N-word”..... I think the outcome was predictable. Some people just could not handle discussion of the term, even though it peppers rap and hip hop songs all the time. They don’t demand that the rappers all be banned, but they demand that a professor be banned for trying to have an academic discussion.

Still, one would hope that people could make the distinction between “using” an offensive term against specific person(s) versus trying to have an academic discussion of what the word is, how it is significant, etc. Obviously, Ivy League cupcakes at Princeton cannot have such a discussion.


4 posted on 02/13/2018 11:48:45 AM PST by Enchante (FusionGPS "dirty dossier" scandal links Hillary, FBI, CIA, Dept of Justice... "Deep State" is real)
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To: Personal Responsibility

There’s always “Blazing Saddles”....


5 posted on 02/13/2018 11:50:29 AM PST by FrankR (The 'Land of the Free' is inversly proportional to the 'Home of the Brave'.)
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To: Angels27

I think you mean ‘libelism’. ;-)


6 posted on 02/13/2018 11:51:43 AM PST by ichabod1 (People don't want to believe it be what it is but it do.)
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To: FrankR

But I thought Bart was hung in that movie.


7 posted on 02/13/2018 11:52:30 AM PST by BipolarBob (At one time I held the world record as the worlds youngest person on the planet.)
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To: SkyDancer

Or the original, non-PC version of “Huckleberry Finn” (if you can find one).


8 posted on 02/13/2018 11:53:11 AM PST by fidelis (Zonie and USAF Cold Warrior)
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To: SkyDancer

‘Good thing he wasn’t reading Mark Twain’s “Life On The Mississippi” - he would have been torched.’

The prof should have started with singing Kanye West’s beloved rap song “Gold Digger.”


9 posted on 02/13/2018 11:53:47 AM PST by Smedley (It's a sad day for American capitalism when a man can't fly a midget on a kite over Central Park)
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To: Personal Responsibility

The cupcakes have taken over the bakery...


10 posted on 02/13/2018 11:53:54 AM PST by WayneS (An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. - Winston Churchill)
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To: SkyDancer

Oh, I was just watching something where they were making a contemporary movie of Life on the Mississippi, and they got around the problem by just calling him N-Word Jim.


11 posted on 02/13/2018 11:54:11 AM PST by ichabod1 (People don't want to believe it be what it is but it do.)
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To: Personal Responsibility
The course’s objectives, as Carolyn Rouse, chair of Princeton’s Department of Anthropology explained in defense of Rosen, was to have students, “be able to argue why hate speech should or should not be protected using an argument other than ‘because it made me feel bad.’”

No plan survives first contact with the enemy...

12 posted on 02/13/2018 11:55:31 AM PST by WayneS (An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. - Winston Churchill)
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To: BipolarBob

But I thought Bart was hung in that movie.”

“It’s twue, it’s twue....”.


13 posted on 02/13/2018 11:57:29 AM PST by FrankR (The 'Land of the Free' is inversly proportional to the 'Home of the Brave'.)
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To: Personal Responsibility

Seems to me, given the objectives, this would have been a worthy class.

Honestly, I am not dwelling on the irony, which is rich, but...I think it would have been interesting and useful.

“Hi Class. Today we are going to discuss Freedom of Speech. Who can think of a word that cannot be said in public? Anyone? Anyone? Come on. Nobody can think of a word you can’t say in public? How about ****? How about ******? Why can’t I say those words, other than ‘It makes someone feel bad’?”

Student heads explode. One student jumps up and runs out of the class to tell the Dean.

I am serious. I think this would have been great. And useful.


14 posted on 02/13/2018 11:59:17 AM PST by rlmorel (Leftists: American Liberty is the egg that requires breaking to make their Utopian omelette)
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To: Personal Responsibility

This class was needed by the students, and still is.
Most schools talk a good game about tolerance and open mindedness, until you actually take them up on it.


15 posted on 02/13/2018 11:59:49 AM PST by lee martell
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To: WayneS

Now, your post made me laugh!


16 posted on 02/13/2018 11:59:50 AM PST by rlmorel (Leftists: American Liberty is the egg that requires breaking to make their Utopian omelette)
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To: Personal Responsibility
"Yes Nurse, cause of death: Irony"

IMHO, the cause was the Admissions Office letting in less-than-prepared and/or qualified students unwilling to face reality.

17 posted on 02/13/2018 12:01:27 PM PST by Calvin Locke
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To: Personal Responsibility

I think many blacks derive a sense of power or superiority (dare I say priviledge?) from being able to do with impunity something whites are absolutely forbidden to do (N word). All the black complaining over the years and doing so little to improve their lot has broken my give-a-damn.


18 posted on 02/13/2018 12:03:57 PM PST by bk1000 (I stand with Trump)
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To: Personal Responsibility

Free Speech is not free in America.


19 posted on 02/13/2018 12:06:05 PM PST by 353FMG
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To: Personal Responsibility

I hope they offered these students consoling.


20 posted on 02/13/2018 12:06:28 PM PST by IC Ken
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