The Chronicle of Higher Education has a new blog that posts short educational news items on a timely basis. Here’s an entry, in its entirety, from yesterday afternoon:
The campus television station at the State University of New York at Purchase has received exceptional feedback from its viewers since a student appeared on the air last week in blackface and proceeded to make a series of crude jokes and racist, sexist, and antigay comments as the host of a call-in show, The Journal News, a local newspaper, reported on Saturday. The campus is in an uproar, the student says he never intended to be a bigot, the closed-circuit station is reviewing its programming standards, and the campus’s affirmative-action office is investigating.
I’ve not seen the TV show; don’t care to; have no interest in students acting in bad taste, even racially insensitive bad taste. But why, I wonder, does this incident, however egregious, come under the jurisdiction of a campus affirmative action office?
Good question. I’d guess that they struggle to find a reason for their existence. If they can expand their role on campus they’ll improve their chances of maintaining employment.