Week 7 presentation write-up ASA01 (Adriana Goracci and Noelani Pastor)

Week 7

Adriana Goracci & Noelani Pastor

11/25/2017

Presentation write-up

Academic Freedom & Its threats - Ethic cover, "Diversity", and politically correct (PC) culture

This week’s readings focused on the theme of academic freedom and the threats that it entails. Although analyzed from different perspectives, all of the articles address the main points that characterize a politically correct culture in the field of academia.

The first reading described the most massive student demonstration in the history of the University of California: the Berkeley Free Speech Movement (FSM) happened in the fall of 1964. Guided by their leader Mario Savio, more than a thousand of students joined and participated in the protest to gain free speech rights at the university. Through resistance, unity, perseverance and a non-violent form of protest, the students provoked a chain of events that eventually lead to their final victory. After a few days of a non-violent form of resistance, the police forcibly broke the student protest by arresting over eight hundred protesters. This sort of governmental initiative only sparked more anger among the students but most importantly urged the faculty members to take action in the movement and advocated for the students' civil rights. The FSM's demands were better represented by the faculty members who spoke for the student body in the Senate meeting, and it is thanks to them that the pretensions were met. The victory of this civil right movement did not represent a temporary victory that affected exclusively the students of Berkeley in the 1960s, but it was a victory that changed and positively influenced the lives of many.

The FSM’s success marked the genesis of a new spirit of activism amongst students, ending for once and for all the generally accepted norm promoted by U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy which established intolerance by equating dissident of radical political activity to disloyalty. Students from many American campuses suddenly felt inspired and hundreds of thousands of colleges were ground to many student strikes, sit-ins, and demonstrations. Thanks to these past student civil right protests, the students in the academia today (such as myself) are able to benefit and enjoy the same rights to free speech as do all citizens. However, this is not always clear to all students and more than often these liberties are given for granted. In my opinion, it is very important to be aware of the struggles and fights that our predecessors had to go through in order to obtain the rights that we all benefit from because otherwise, it could represent one of the biggest threats of academic freedom. By overseeing our rights which were first negated to us, we students of today, lose focus on their importance, making in turn, the academia more empowered and able to take them away from us. Therefore it is necessary and fundamental that we hold on to those rights and embrace them, speak up our minds and celebrate our ancestors' struggles.

In Italy, from where I am from, student protests are very common. There is one at least every month and what we call “occupazione” every semester. This is where students take possession of the school, invading the inside and locking themselves in for some days. Causes of these protests often involve the students' rights: a new reform of the Ministry of Education that may penalize them, an inadequacy of the school’s facilities (minimum classrooms, lack of workshops, cold spaces, etc.) or a rigid school-based school regulation. However, the only difference is that the current educational system in Italy is quite steady and still adopts some regulations that were observed two or three generations past. The evolvement and development are at a really slow pace and in addition, the government does not take into a serious consideration the academia and barely changes anything.

The next reading discusses the effects of warnings on the mental health of students in academia. In their article:”The coddling of the American mind”, Greg Lukianof and Jonathan Haidt discuss a common issue rising in today’s American colleges and universities. The neoteric terms: Microaggressions and Trigger warnings have been recently introduced from obscurity into common campus parlance. Microaggressions define the small actions or word choices that seem to have no malicious intent but that are thought of as kind of violence nonetheless, whilst Trigger warnings describe the alerts that professors are expected to issue if something in a course might cause a strong emotional response. The current movement analyzed in the article, largely focuses on emotional well-being, aiming to turn campuses into "safe spaces" where young adults are shielded from words and ideas that make some uncomfortable. The concept of “vindictive protectiveness” is creating a culture in which everyone must think twice before speaking up. The author addresses many different approaches and ways in which the current educational system affects one’s ideas. A common saying amongst educational cycles is: “Don't teach what to think, teach how to think”. In order to resist the current educational method which aims to program students with the same flow of ideas and behavior, we must adopt the so-called Socratic method that aims to stimulate a more critical thinking by encouraging students to question their own unexamined beliefs, as well as the received wisdom of those around them.

Living in a world of advanced technology where development is key, it is significant to investigate this topic from a social media point of view. According to the writer,  social media makes it extraordinarily easy to join crusades, express solidarity and outrage, and shun traitors. Also, it has fundamentally shifted the balance of power in relationships between students and faculty; the latter increasingly fear what students might do to their reputations and careers by stirring up online mobs against them and are therefore forced to give an unrealistic review of their perceptions.

In addition, rates of mental illness in young adults have been rising, both on campus and off, students seem to be reporting more emotional crises, and consequently changing the way university faculty and administrators interact with them. Overall the article’s main idea is that the current academic system in America in progressively shifting focus over factors that don’t deserve as much attention and are only causing diversions to real problems that are affecting more people worldwide such as cultural discrimination and unequal treatment of the individuals. Of course, the problem isn’t addressing the warnings, suggesting that they are irrelevant and foolish, but it’s when it is compared to other bigger problems that it becomes an issue to be addressed.

To better understand the concept, take into consideration a woman who lacks exercise and has a very bad diet and lifestyle. Although the woman could wear makeup, wear jewelry, style her hair and dress in fancy clothes in order to look pretty, she will still be unhealthy, suffering from physical issues and is more prone to early death. To make a radical change, it is necessary to begin from the biggest issue and then move over to the minor, less influential ones. Therefore instead of fixing the minor defects covering with makeup and accessories, changing the lifestyle and habits will solve a bigger issue. So with the educational system, it is critical to fix the bigger issues first and then address the less fundamental ones which are not pointless but don't represent the primary focus.

In the third and last article: “Ethnic cover: inquiry into Norman Yoshio Mineta and post-racial profiling”, by Darrell Hamamoto, the author addresses the government’s selective and carefully scripted plan to leak the right info to the media and include just the adequate amount of international faculty to be in the norm. Hamamoto inquires the secretive manipulation of the people, especially colored groups, though the example of the life of Norman Hamamoto, U.S. secretary of transportation on duty during 9/11, but most importantly, son of Japanese immigrants.

Work Cited:

• Hamamoto, Darrell. “Chapter Nine: ETHNIC COVER: INQUIRY INTO NORMAN YOSHIO MINETA AND POST-RACIAL PROFILING.” Hamamoto Servitors of Empire Mineta, pp. 201–223.

• “Norman Mineta.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Nov. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Mineta.

• Haidt, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan. “The Coddling of the American Mind.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 31 July 2017, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/.

• Cohen, Robby. “Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Paving the Way for Campus Activism.”OAH Magazine of History, Vol. 1, No. 1, Teaching about the 60's (Apr. 1985), Pp. 16-18, 6 Jan. 2012, www.jstor.org/stable/25162448.

• Foschi, Fabrizio. “SCUOLA/ Giusto Dare Soldi Alle Scuole Migliori, Ma i Dati Invalsi Non Bastano.” Il Sussidiario.net, Il Sussidiario.net, 9 Jan. 2013, www.ilsussidiario.net/News/Educazione/2013/1/8/SCUOLA-Giusto-dare-soldi-alle-scuole-migliori-ma-i-dati-Invalsi-non-bastano/352361/.

• “Berkeley Protests: Then vs. Now. From Fighting for Free Speech to Fighting Free Speech. • r/The_Donald.” Reddit, DemocratMafia, Feb. 2017, www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/5rntdb/berkeley_protests_then_vs_now_from_fighting_for/.