Posted on 10/08/2005 6:10:50 PM PDT by sdk7x7
Well, the liberal stranglehold is alive and well here at the University of Pennsylvania.
On Monday, we will not be observing Columbus Day. We will, however, be observing Martin Luther King day. Surprised?
Don't be. I just received the following e-mail from the University's Career Services department:
—–Original Message—– From: GJB2008 [mailto:XXXXXXXX] On Behalf Of XXXXXXX Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2005 2:05 PM To: XXXXXXX@LISTS.UPENN.EDU Subject: “Internships for Students of Color” panel program - 10/10
Do you know what you’re going to do next summer?
Internships for Students of Color Panel Presentation | Information Session
Monday, October 10 5:30-7PM Ben Franklin Room, Houston Hall
Participating organizations: CSFB Credit Suisse First Boston [freshmen, sophomores] INROADS [freshmen, sophomores, juniors] SEO Sponsors for Educational Opportunity [sophomores, juniors, seniors (limited)] SUMR Summer Undergraduate Minority Research [freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors]
Come learn about opportunities in business, IT, corporate law, healthcare research and more! Open to undergraduates of all majors and schools
Career Services - Resources for Students of Color http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/internet/students-of-color.html
The source URL for this is a student-run blog with mostly right-of-center commentary on politics, international affairs, and the like. I've got a post there with some more info on this matter.
I have always wondered what the difference is between ,
" people of color', and, "colored people'.
One is PC and the other seems to be biased-according to liberals. I say 'huh' ?
I also wonder if a certain people of color, is an attempt to link to successful "people of color such as Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, etc.
PC causes libs to twist themselves into knots...as per the above.
Universities shouldn't be considered "private" when they accept gov't money at all, even in the form of tuition grants. (U of P accepts student tuition grants, doesn't it?)
Btw, I used to live near U of P. Be careful around there. :-0 When I was living there, a student from your university was shot and killed for something like $1.35.
Freshman? FRESHMAN? That is outrageous!!!! What about first year women? You should file a compliant. Seriously. That is what they would do.
The term brings many different people under the "umbrella", making the "group" larger and more powerful.
When I was taking college courses - about 15 years ago - I remember a student rep walking into one of our classes to recruit specifically Asian students for some sort of special training and job interviews. There were both "white" and "black" students sitting in the class, and the rep just stood there with a straight face calling for "Asian students". One of the "white" students said, "That's racist."
Everyone who is quote-unquote "nonwhite" qualifies under "minority status".
For the record, my own children would qualify, which is precisely why I want those programs abolished. They can get ahead on their own talents, without the gov't's help.
No.
There are different degrees of observing a holiday. What specifically, are you objecting to here?
What about White Latinos?
Are they white or minority?
Penn - always disappointing - just about the time I think they're starting to recover from the shame of the Water Buffalo and stolenbutnotreallystolenbecauseitwasminoritystusentswhotooktheDP's incidents, they go and give an honory degree to Kofi Annan, and now this - for all their powerful intellect, they don't learn very fast.....
No, they don't. They still sound just like they did back in the 80's when I was a math grad student there. My best friend (a physics grad student who TAed for the math dept his first three years), one of his professors and I went to disrupt a 'racism awareness workshop' (an event held so politically correct white girls could have their requisite does of guilt) by introducing rational argument.
It is one of my few political triumphs that I effectively won the day. I argued that racial prejudice was functionally gone in the US, but that cultural prejudice remained. By the end of the session--in which they had to pull the administrator who was running the thing out of her session and send her to mine to counter my arguments--we were all talking about culture not race.
(I actually wonder whether 'anti-racism' originally turned into 'multiculturalism' at Penn, and whether I unwittingly had a hand in the name change.)
I anticipate that I will be demonized very shortly, but I have to play the bad guy here and ask--
How seriously does anybody take this holiday anyway?
I am enjoying my days off from the Army, to be sure, but I cannot say that the name Christopher Columbus inspires any great sentiment in my heart (along the lines of say, George Washington or Abraham Lincoln).
I see him as a opportunist who: (a) did not actually discover America and was certainly not the only person exploring this area of the world during his lifetime; (b) contributed nothing whatever to our cultural or political heritage; and (c) set out in service of the interests of the Spanish Crown, whose imperial designs remained at least a minor threat to U.S. interests throughout the first 120 year or so of our nation's existence.
None of this makes him a bad person but I see nothing that makes his life more worth celebrating than the life of any other European mariner hunting fame and fortune at that time.
If Americans are going to dedicate a holiday to a foreigner, I could see plenty of more compelling candidates. How about a Winston Churchill day? Or a Mother Theresa day? Or maybe a Lech Walesa day?
There are a lot of federal holidays that could/should be eliminated.
The only reason I think Columbus Day should remain a federal holiday, at this point, is that eliminating it would be a surrender to the groups that have been demonizing him, protesting at every parade.
But, I don't see why we should add a replacement holiday for a foreigner who had very little to do with the U.S. or the discovery of it at all, like Churchill or Mother Theresa, as important to the world as they might have been.
Anyhow I'm convinced that I'll never run our of valid reasons for not contributing in any way to alma mater......
I'm referring to cancelling classes. We do it for MLK day, but not Columbus or Veterans' day.
The policy should be consistent on national holidays.
Firstly, why do you not advocate attending classes on MLK Day: that too would re-establish consistency.
I am not making fun of your desire to skip, rather to attend classes. What you may or may not know is that universities are notorious for NOT granting days off. Most proudly declare that they were closed only for a couple unscheduled days in a couple of centuries. So granting release here is more serious than at a commercial firm, for instance.
Further, a comparison of holidays is very difficult: each of us has a different attachment and weight given to different holidays, don't we? In the case of MLK day, it was argued that, at least during the transition from the pretty bad past, where Black people needed to see that America celebrates them as well. MLK Day has gain prominence of other holidays largely for that reason.
Now, if you advance a course of action, you should offer arguments (besides consistency: you do get a Thanksgiving break and don't complain about that) that address these points and show how they can be addressed better.
P.S. Say hi to the Locust Walk for me.
I think it's a matter of who's doing the naming.
My granny's generation in the South used the word "darkies". I wouldn't try that today, but on balance, the word itself isn't the problem, it's the meaning in the mind of the speaker/hearer that matters.
I think they'd love to replace Columbus Day with "Che Guevara Day". ;-)
Sometime I will contribute: subscriptions to some right-wing magazines Penn doesn't get. (Heh! heh!)
Viva Colon! Arriba Espana!
Could be. In articles discussing illegal aliens from Mexico, they are frequently referred to as the Hispanic communty (or the Latino community) as if everyone in those "communities" are all the same.
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