Posted on 05/10/2018 1:25:52 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
This is the intersectional equivalent of a car wreck. It all took place in a Cornell class titled “Acting in Public” which seems to be a relatively normal speech class based on the syllabus. Last week, a student named Letitia Chai was set to do a practice run of her senior thesis but, for reasons explained below, wound up giving it in her underwear. The crisis began when her professor pointed out that Chai’s cut-off jean shorts might not be ideal for a major presentation. From the Cornell Daily Sun:
The first thing that the professor said to me was is that really what you would wear? Chai explained as she detailed what happened when she tried to begin her presentation in her Wednesday section of PMA 3815 Acting in Public: Performance in Everyday Life.
Chai, who had dressed in a blue button down and cutoff jean shorts, said she was stunned.
I think that I was so taken aback that I didnt really know how to respond, she said in an interview with The Sun.
Chai said that the course instructor, Prof. Rebekah Maggor, performing and media arts, went on to say that her shorts were too short and that as a speaker she was making a statement with the clothes she was wearing…
A male international student in the class made a comment during the discussion that the speaker has a moral obligation to her audience to dress conservatively during her thesis presentation, at which point Chai left the room with two students following to comfort her.
According to a letter written by the other students in the classroom, Chai left the room fairly quickly after the remark about her outfit and so missed the discussion that followed:
Our professor acknowledged the discomfort of speaking overtly about attire and perception, especially for women, and encouraged us to share our thoughts and opinions. Students began discussing their beliefs on the matter. Letitia became visibly upset by our professors earlier comments, and after one male international students comment (mentioned in her post), she left the room. From the initial comments to Letitias exit, only a few minutes had passed, and many people were speaking at once. Tensions were high, and neither our professor nor Letitia was able to adequately defend her position.
The professor asked Chai how she wanted to proceed, at which point the senior decided to strip off her clothes and give her speech in her underwear:
At this point, Maggor asked Chai what she was going to do.
Im going to give the best damn speech of my life, Chai told her.
Chai stripped down to her bra and underwear and walked back into the theatre room, where she performed the entirety of her thesis presentation in the same state of undress.
Naturally, this being a college campus, Chai presented her decision to get naked in class not as an overreaction to a small bit of criticism but as a protest against the patriarchy, or something. From Reason:
Chai stripped again during her actual senior thesis presentation, in front of students and professors. She said she “stood in solidarity with people who have been asked to ‘question themselves’ based on others’ perception of their appearances,” according to The Sun. She asked the audience to join herand some removed articles of clothing. Afterward, she led a roundtable discussion about diversity and inclusion.
Of course, if she was reacting to her professor’s comments as a microaggression, that suggests her professor must be some kind of conservative oppressor, right? Well, no, not at all. In fact, the other students were very concerned that the protest might reflect poorly on their professor and wrote a defense pointing out what a virtuous progressive she is:
Our professor is a white, female ally who puts actions behind her allyship which, in all honesty, is very rare. Her directorial work focuses on the translation of plays from the Middle East that deal with issues of social justice. She uses her privilege to bring original playwrights (often refugees) from overseas so that they may get an audience for their immensely important pieces of work. There is no one else at Cornell doing work like this for an area of the world largely ignored by the West, and yes by Cornell. She takes careful efforts with casting POC actors and actresses and has engaged in long discussions with POC students outside of class about supporting us to make our voices heard in an industry that often
silences us.We feel that these aspects of her character are fundamental to who she is. We acknowledge the undeniable history of white peers mistreating POC students and the pain of microaggressions in the professional space. While we do believe there was an error of phrasing on our professors part, her intent, to us, has always been extremely sincere. For us, because she has mentioned the social role of attire on multiple occasions to other students (male, female, of various backgrounds) as a natural consequence of performing publicly, we do not believe this instance occurred with malicious intent.
So who is the bad guy here? It’s not clear. Most of the students in the class are minorities. The professor is a progressive, female “ally” and yet, somehow a naked protest became necessary. “I ask you to take this leap of faith, to take this next step, or rather this next strip, in our movement,” Chai said when live-streaming her final presentation. It’s enough to make you think progressive campus culture has lost all sense of reason. Here’s the video:
What is “allyship”? Is that a word?
This student is too dumb to understand the teacher is trying to help, that or she knows the only way her presentation gets a passing mark is by distracting from it. The teacher should just let her be and see what happens when she strips down for her first job interview.
Carl Sagan was unavailable to answer the question, “Would you hit it?”
Not really good looking enough to get away with it. Almost, but not quite.
It all could have been avoided if she’d been able to get Woody Allen on her thesis committee like she wanted ...
Just following Sheldon's lead. "HERE'S Uranus!"
And stop complaining when men objectify you. Ya pig.
Cornell?...looks and sounds like a small-time community college stunt...
Needs Duct Tape!
If that’s a senior thesis, Cornell owes her a 3 1/2 year refund.
What was her final grade?
Confucius say naked girl who give speech need sheepskin.
She’s “Last call at the bar” hot.
Big deal. Elizabeth Keathley campaigned for governor of Californian in the nude.
If she had any real guts, she would have gone buck naked.
Then you would have needed NITRIC ACID for eye wash.
Well, all I can say is that I certainly hope she got it out of her system, once-and-for-all.
PLEASE...
The REAL question is: Would Laz hit it?
I’m gonna go out on the limb and say, “Yes”!
Why is it libs always think taking their clothes off will promote their wackadoodle ideas?
“looks and sounds like a small-time community college stunt...”
I beg your pardon. Nothing like that ever happened at my community college.
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