The University of
Michigan's Tolerance Problem
Jonah Goldberg | Feb 17, 2015
I once asked my late father if he had any experiences with
anti-Semitism. There weren't many. Although that was probably in part because
of his scoring methodology. The Irish kids who beat up the Jewish kids in his Bronx
neighborhood didn't do so because they were anti-Semitic, but because
"they had to fight somebody," as my dad put it. Today, such behavior
would probably be called a hate crime. So I suppose that's progress. He did
tell me that the first time someone said to him "Don't Jew me" was
during his freshman year at the University of Michigan. He was more shocked
than offended. He couldn't believe someone he was friends with could be so stupid.
Today we call such stupidity "insensitivity." Whether that counts as
progress is an open question. I visited my father's alma mater for the first
time last week. The University of Michigan's chapter of the Young Americans for
Freedom invited me to give a speech. A banner warning the "thought
police" of my imminent arrival was torn down, presumably by the
irony-impaired thought police. The university has been in the news recently for
such shenanigans and worse. For instance, student Omar Mahmood, a columnist for
both the Michigan
Daily and the conservative
Michigan Review, was fired from the Daily for writing a parody piece for the
Review about the oppression of the "left-handyd." In the piece,
Mahmood's narrator takes a comment from a "white cis-gendered hetero
upper-class man" as microaggression. "Behind his words I sensed a
patronizing sneer, as if he expected me to be a spokespersyn for my whole race.
He offered his hand to help me up, and I thought to myself how this might be a
manifestation of the patriarchy patronizing me." The humor-deficient
editors of the Michigan Daily were not amused. They claimed the column had
created a "hostile environment" because one of the editors felt
"threatened" by Mahmood's mockery of microaggressions. He was ultimately
fired. Later, Mahmood's dorm doorway was pelted with eggs and festooned with
profanity-laced notes and, oddly, a picture of Satan. The administration's
efforts to find the perpetrators appear lackadaisical compared to O.J.
Simpson's pursuit of the real killers. Of course, if Mahmood, a Muslim,
had been attacked for something related to his religious faith, you can bet the
administration would go to DEFCON 1. That's because the University of Michigan
wants to be an intolerance-free zone -- so long as it's intolerance of things
the administration finds intolerable. To that end, the school rolled out its
Inclusive Language Campaign. It contains a list of taboo phrases that no one
should use lest they give offense. The campaign is intended to be "educational,
not regulatory," though some students report that they've been asked to
sign a pledge vowing to avoid using such phrases as "ghetto,"
"that's so gay," "that's retarded" and "tranny."
Students are also told they shouldn't say things like "I want to die"
-- say, after doing badly on a test -- because such language can "diminish
the experience of those who have attempted or committed suicide." I would
have thought those who have committed suicide would be immune to such concerns.
Also on the list is any effort to turn Jew into a verb. So, roughly 75 years
after my dad was told by an idiot "Don't Jew me," the battle
continues. I have no problem with teaching students to have good manners. I'm
less convinced that the PC priesthood is winning the war on intolerance. It's
absolutely true that majorities owe minorities respect. What's lost is any
appreciation of the fact that minorities owe majorities respect too. That's
what Mahmood was getting at. Instead, we are teaching young people that being
offended is an ideological priority. Indeed, the coin of the campus realm today
is victimhood, grievance and offense. An entirely well-intentioned -- and
syntactically accurate -- use of the wrong word is an invitation to being
called a racist, homophobe, sexist, etc. (while actual disagreement is
tantamount to heresy). The burden of proof then falls on the accused, a burden
that often can't be met absent re-education. And for the offended
"victim," a stupid comment or even a harmless newspaper column
becomes a source of trauma. Yes, words can hurt. But teaching these delicate
flowers to make too big a deal out of them will likely do more lasting damage.
University of Michigan
James J.
Duderstadt is a president emeritus for the University of Michigan, and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Note: Susan M. Collins
is a professor at the University of
Michigan, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Rebecca M. Blank
was a professor at the University of
Michigan, a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and is the deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce for the Barack Obama administration.
Google
Books Library Project is an initial partner with the University of Michigan, a Google
Inc. project, a partner with Columbia University, a partner at Cornell University,
an initial partner with Harvard University, an initial partner with the New
York Public Library, an initial partner with Oxford University, a
partner with Princeton University, an initial partner with Stanford
University, and a partner with the University of California.
Google
Inc. was a funder for the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution
(think tank), and the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Sheryl K.
Sandberg was a VP for Google Inc,, and a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Joan
E. Spero was a trustee at Columbia University, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Abby Joseph Cohen
is a trustee emeritus at Cornell University, and was a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Andrew
H. Tisch is a trustee at Cornell
University, and a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Henry Louis
Gates Jr. was a professor at Cornell University, an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and is a professor at the Harvard University.
Paul
E. Peterson is a professor at Harvard
University, and was a director of governmental studies for the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Lawrence H. Summers
is a professor; former president for Harvard
University, was the National Economic Council chairman for the Barack Obama administration, a trustee
at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
C. Douglas Dillon
was an overseer at Harvard University,
and the chairman for the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Ann
M. Fudge was an overseer at Harvard
University, and is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Harold
H. Koh was an overseer at Harvard
University, the State Department legal adviser for the Barack Obama administration, and a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
John
C. Whitehead was the chairman for Harvard
University, and is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution
(think tank).
Henry Louis
Gates Jr. is a trustee at the New
York Public Library, and was an
honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Diane
S. Ravitch was an honorary trustee at the New York Public Library, and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
(think tank).
Michael S. Barr
was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford
University, the assistant Treasury secretary for the Barack Obama administration, is a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, and
a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
E.J.
Dionne was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford
University, and is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think
tank).
Richard
N. Haass was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford
University, and the VP for the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Susan
E. Rice was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford
University, the former U.S. ambassador to UN for the Barack Obama administration, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), and is the White
House national security adviser for the Barack Obama administration.
Strobe
Talbott was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford
University, and is the president for the Brookings Institution (think
tank).
Ben
S. Bernanke was a professor at Princeton
University, and is a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution
(think tank).
David
H. Romer was an assistant professor at Princeton
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Robert
M. Bass is a trustee at Stanford
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Institution (think tank).
Steven A. Denning
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and an honorary trustee at the Brookings
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Pete
Higgins was a trustee at Stanford
University, and is a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Mark B. McClellan
was an associate professor at Stanford
University, and a senior fellow at the
Brookings Institution (think tank).
Victoria P. Sant
was a trustee at Stanford University,
and is an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Richard
C. Blum is a regent at the University of California, married to Senator Dianne Feinstein,
and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Saban
Center for Middle East Policy is a policy center at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Haim Saban is a
benefactor at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and a friend of Shimon Peres.
Shimon
Peres is a friend of Haim Saban,
and the president of Israel.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Newton
N. Minow is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Sidley Austin
LLP is the lobby firm for Israel.
Thomas R.
Pickering was the U.S. ambassador for Israel,
and is a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Martin S. Indyk
was a U.S. ambassador for Israel, a founding
director at the Saban Center for Middle
East Policy, and is the foreign policy director for the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Saban
Center for Middle East Policy is a policy center at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Haim Saban is a
benefactor at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and a friend of Shimon Peres.
Shimon
Peres is a friend of Haim Saban,
and the president of Israel.
Richard
N. Haass was the VP for the Brookings Institution (think tank), a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University,
and was a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank).
Richard
A. Debs was a trustee at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and a pro-bono financial
adviser for Anwar Sadat.
Anwar
Sadat’s pro-bono financial adviser was
Richard A. Debs, and the president of Egypt.
Mohamed
Morsi was the president of Egypt, and is the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Daniel C. Kurtzer
was a U.S. ambassador for Egypt,
a U.S. ambassador for Israel, and is a director at the New Israel
Fund.
Martin S. Indyk
was a U.S. ambassador for Israel,
a director at the New Israel Fund, a founding director for the Saban
Center for Middle East Policy, and is a the foreign policy director for the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Saban
Center for Middle East Policy is a policy center at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Haim Saban is a
benefactor at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and a friend of Shimon Peres.
Shimon Peres is a
friend of Haim Saban, and the president of Israel.
Sidley Austin
LLP is the lobby firm for Israel.
Barack Obama was an
intern at Sidley Austin LLP.
AIPAC is a U.S.-based
lobby group for Israel.
Wendy Senor
Singer was the head of Jerusalem office for AIPAC, and Daniel S.
Senor’s sister.
Daniel S. Senor
is Wendy Senor Singer’s brother, and was a guest on Morning Joe.
Morning Joe is an
MSNBC program.
Eugene Robinson
is a frequent guest on Morning Joe, a contributor for MSNBC, and
was a co-editor-in-chief for the Michigan Daily.
Steven L. Rattner
is a frequent guest on Morning Joe, and was a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
James J.
Duderstadt is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank),
and a president emeritus for the University of Michigan.
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