Professor Uses 'N-Word,' Student Shouts 'F-You,' 'Free Speech' Class Canceled at Princeton

The word is offensive but OMG he did not call anyone a N word. People that get mad at just the word in this context are completely ridiculous.

This is at an IVY League school for Christs sake,

STOP LOOKING FOR A DAMM REASON TO BE OFFENDED YOU GIGANTIC FRIKIN CRY BABIES.

I was thinking over this students response a bit more. Trying to see an positive aspect of his actions. From that came these questions....

Was he trying to express the use of the N-word makes him feel threatened as if it was an actual physical threat?
And his response to get in the professor's face an attempt to impose that same feeling of physical threat to the professor?
Was the other student also trying to haphazardly explain how the use of the N-word does make them feel as if they are being physically threatened?

Thoughts ATS?

Why would anyone take a class with "hate speech" in the name and not expect to hear the gold standard of "hate speech" in America?
I would be pretty bummed out if I took that class and it was terminated because of a couple cry babies.
There goes my easy A.

Didn't even get to the blasphemy or porn yet... sheesh

originally posted by: o0oTOPCATo0o
Why would anyone take a class with "hate speech" in the name and not expect to hear the gold standard of "hate speech" in America?
I would be pretty bummed out if I took that class and it was terminated because of a couple cry babies.
There goes my easy A.

Didn't even get to the blasphemy or porn yet... sheesh

My initial reaction was that it could have been an attempt to get the class canceled, intentionally.

But, it also could be the students inexperienced attempt to answer the professors question directly without words.

originally posted by: Krakatoa

originally posted by: o0oTOPCATo0o
Why would anyone take a class with "hate speech" in the name and not expect to hear the gold standard of "hate speech" in America?
I would be pretty bummed out if I took that class and it was terminated because of a couple cry babies.
There goes my easy A.

Didn't even get to the blasphemy or porn yet... sheesh

My initial reaction was that it could have been an attempt to get the class canceled, intentionally.

But, it also could be the students inexperienced attempt to answer the professors question directly without words.

Im sorry but that is a real stretch.

a reply to: Willtell

I have to agree with you.

This class was poorly thought out, poorly executed, and it seems to have had little in terms of the framework a class in college typically has.

The worst part is that an Ivy League college felt the need to create a garbage class like this, and that students felt the need to pay for it.

Anyone who thinks physical violence is a justifiable response to name calling has some serious issues.

Anyone who thinks censorship of ideas, words and opinions they find offensive is justifiable, has a screw loose.

Saying 'n-word' in this context is totally justifiable, and, judging by the inability of some members of the class to confront these ideas in a mature and objective manner, entirely necessary.

Shouting "# you" is also a perfectly acceptable retort, albeit one which lacks substance and contributes nothing.

# is just a word.

Nigger is just a word.

Yet we do have widespread censorship, so as not to offend.

Ridiculous.

I actually saw an interview with Jordan Peterson where the news anchor actually said to him, in all sincerity "what about my right not to be offended?"

Absolute madness. Yet it is a perspective which is rapidly gaining popularity.

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.

Bold Emphasis added.

Man, this says it all, doesn't it?

Another article with more details here.

The university later issued a statement defending Rosen. The professor and the students did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment.

"The values of free speech and inclusivity are central to Princeton University's mission and critical to the education we provide to our students," the statement said. "The conversations and disagreements that took place in the seminar led by Professor Rosen (last week) are part of the vigorous engagement and robust debate that are central to what we do."

The school said it will continue "to look for ways to encourage discussions about free speech and inclusivity with the students in Professor Rosen's class and the campus community more broadly."

So, at least the university is supporting him, and is siding with free speech. And, this is not a new class.

Carolyn Rouse, chairwoman of Princeton's Anthropology Department, who is black, wrote a letter to the editor of the The Daily Princetonian defending Rosen's use of the slur. She wrote that by the end of the semester, Rosen hoped his students would be able to argue why hate speech should or should not be protected using an argument other than "because it made me feel bad."

Noting that Rosen has used the same example year after year, Rouse said this was the first year he got the response he did from students.

It seems that only the younger newer students seems to be the first to take it to this level of being offended.

Why am I not surprised?

a reply to: Krakatoa



If it weren't good ol Princeton, I'd think it was a class designed for athletes on athletic scholarship(s); this decade's 'Underwater Basketweaving 101'...

I'd be more curious how the discourse would've gone if the Prof. was answered w/a derogative term for a Jew? Lawrence Rosen, but I'm just guessing on the ethnicity...

Here is the issue w/someone other than using that descriptor. Although the word is the same, what that word means differs from place to place, city to city and neighborhood to neighborhood. While We're at it, the argument that the Africans were the first to enslave folks is also hair-thin. If I was oceanside selling Buicks at the same time as the Slave Trade, how many do You think I'd sell? No Market, No Product ..

originally posted by: JimNasium
a reply to: Krakatoa
I'd be more curious how the discourse would've gone if the Prof. was answered w/a derogative term for a Jew? Lawrence Rosen, but I'm just guessing on the ethnicity...

I think this answers your question,

"I feel bad for the students who left the class not trusting the process," Rouse wrote. "Rosen was fighting battles for women, Native Americans, and African-Americans before these students were born. He grew up a Jew in anti-Semitic America, and recognizes how law has afforded him rights he would not otherwise have."

Source

a reply to: Krakatoa

This should be interesting. Big difference between discussing hate speech and using it in the classroom. "FU" guy should be dismissed, not the entire class.


But thats the real issue, banning free speech classes.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: Krakatoa

This should be interesting. Big difference between discussing hate speech and using it in the classroom. "FU" guy should be dismissed, not the entire class.


But thats the real issue, banning free speech classes.

Agreed. Especially when this is not a new class. But yet, it's the first time a student(s) reacted in this manner to the discussion of the word. TO me, it says more about the student than the professor or the word.

a reply to: intrptr

I disagree that the FU guy should be dismissed. Just as it is the right of the professor to use the word 'n-word' it is the FU guys prerogative to use the F word in response. As I said previously; it may not be the most intelligent response but he is as within his rights to use that word as any other.

It would have been preferable to inquire as to why he felt that his using a word that is considered offensive was ok, whereas the professor using a word that is considered offensive is not.

originally posted by: Krakatoa
Thoughts ATS?

He was trying to get his students to think about the issue objectively but he failed because the brainwashing is too deep for some of these younger students who can't step outside their own egos.

a reply to: Indrasweb

He shouldn't be dismissed over saying f.u.

He should be dismissed for physically threatening the prof.

Some people are always looking for an excuse to fight.

originally posted by: abe froman
a reply to: Indrasweb

He shouldn't be dismissed over saying f.u.

He should be dismissed for physically threatening the prof.

Some people are always looking for an excuse to fight.

He should be dismissed as he clearly isn't smart enough to attend a school such as Princeton.

a reply to: abe froman

A fair point. When you get to the point of threatening physical violence you have lost the argument.

If you cannot handle having a civil debate in an educational setting, no matter how provocative the subject matter, then you have no business being in such an establishment in the first place.

Universities should be the one place you CAN confront all kinds of thoughts, opinions and ideas.
It should be a challenging experience and nothing should be off the table. If you can't handle a civil discussion in such an environment then you have no chance functioning in the real world. Unless you reshape the world to fit your warped worldview. Which, unfortunately, seems to be the direction we're headed....

a reply to: Indrasweb

You think shouting FU in a school room is alright...

Dismissed

a reply to: Krakatoa
A word used in hate against me, will never define me, but it will always define the person saying it.