January 31, 2017 - 16:24
Original Blog Post Title: Academia, Love me Back
Author: Tiffany Martinez
https://vivatiffany.wordpress.com/2016/10/27/academia-love-me-back/
News Title: Mandatory Microaggression Training
Author: Scott Jaschik
The original blog post is Tiffany’s narration of an unpleasant academic experience at Suffolk University. According to her, the professor exclaimed in front of the whole class that “this is not your language,” a direct comment on her literature review paper. She wrote that on the top of the paper the professor wrote: “Please go back and indicated where you cut and paste.” She also took a photo of her paper, on which the word “hence” is circled out with a side note, “this is not your word!” Tiffany felt disrespected and humiliated because the professor blamed her not based on her academic ability but because she is Latina. She felt desperate that while she aspires to become a professor and had worked hard toward that end goal, the white-predominant academia continues to make assumptions about her academic ability just because of the color of her skin.
The news article describes an action response from the university’s administration. The acting president, Marisa J. Kelly, announced a policy requiring all faculty members to go through mandatory micro-aggression trainings. She also expressed her determination in training staff members in the near future.
I first read the news piece and then went on and found the original post. I think organizing micro-aggression trainings of faculty members is a necessary step toward diversity-awareness in the university, especially since the power dynamic in academia dictates that professors usually have more authority than students. The news seems to deliver a positive message that the university is making a positive and active response to the blog post that went viral on the Internet. On the one hand, I feel sorry that it takes a widely spread and commented blog to force the university to take any action at all; on the other hand, something is better than nothing. One concern of mine is that the news fails to mention any detail about the coming micro-aggression training. Who will lead the training? How structured will the training be? Will it be a one-time training or will it occur on a regular basis? I believe that any training must be planned and conducted carefully, or it may achieve the opposite of what it aspires to.
The comments below the news article were what intrigued me to look into the original blog post. While many supported Tiffany’s stance and commented that faculty behavior needs to be more disciplined and that requires further education. However, some comments also point out that since the news did not mention any direct claims from the instructor, so that “ we do not know what the instructor assumed or did not assume.” Some commenters immediately disagreed with the post, insisting that the professor must have assumed Tiffany to be f low writing ability because she is Latina. In order not to fall into the trap of “the single story,” I looked at the original post. After reading, I admit that Tiffany does have strong writing skills and is obviously capable of using the word “hence.” However, I still only heard the story from Tiffany’s stand point. I could not find any other online pieces that quote a single line from the instructor (perhaps because of confidentiality?). Therefore, I would be reluctant to jump to the conclusion that the professor is making racist assumptions and being very unprofessional in grading and commenting on the paper.
Despite all that has been said, racist comments are not unusual in academic settings, as seen from a proliferation of students who spoke about their experience under the blog post. Therefore, regardless of the truthfulness behind this particular incident, the problem it reveals is a real issue and the university is taking a potentially right step toward fixing it.