In yet another instance of contemporary college students’ delicate feelings being bruised, some undergrads were “personally hurt” after someone (or some group) hung posters around Harvard’s campus which mocked those displayed by a new student magazine.
The online magazine Renegade launched last week to “showcase the writing and artwork of students of color.” Magazine contributors had hung posters advertising the new site which included “phrases about race and diversity, such as ‘because Mather owned slaves.’”
Soon after, an unknown entity exhibited their own posters satirizing Renegade’s message.
The apparent parody posters, however, were black with white text and included the messages “because all straight white men are racist” and “because anyone that disagrees with me is racist.” The posters included the url of the magazine’s website and its launch date.
In her statement on behalf of Renegade, Gathright confirmed that “[a]ny other posters in Pfoho imitating the style and font of Renegade were not produced by or endorsed by Renegade.”
“These posters were put up by people outside of Renegade, presumably with the intention of mischaracterizing our mission and reducing the work we are trying to do on this campus,” [Jenny A.] Gathright’s statement said on behalf of the group.
“The production and distribution of these fake posters is an immature and unacceptable attack on students of color in Pfoho and across this campus who have come together to speak their truths,” the statement read.
Pforzheimer House Masters Anne Harrington and John R. Durant said “Whatever the intent behind these posters, their effect has been to potentially mislead our community about Renegade, and to personally hurt and undermine some members of that group who live here in Pfoho. That is absolutely unacceptable, and we intend to take those posters down immediately.”
We’ve already seen today how a screening of the most popular film of 2014 was nixed due to it making some students feel “unsafe;” at this point one wonders how colleges can even fulfill their basic mission when anyone, at any time, can gripe about battered sensibilities and immediately have it turned into a cause célèbre.
That is, if it’s the “right” cause.
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