White Male Students Offended By Black Professor's Talk On Racism

Black Professor's Speech On Racism Offended White Male Students

the professor was reprimanded over this...

A faculty member at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, Shannon Gibney, received a formal reprimand for her handling of a discussion about structural racism in her Introduction to Mass Communication course.

According to Gibney in an interview with City College News, a white male student asked her, “Why do we have to talk about this in every class? Why do we have to talk about this?”

She claims she was shocked, because “[h]is whole demeanor was very defensive. He was taking it personally. I tried to explain, of course, in a reasonable manner — as reasonable as I could given the fact that I was being interrupted and put on the spot in the middle of class — that this is unfortunately the context of 21st century America.”

Gibney says another white male student followed the first, saying “Yeah, I don’t get this either. It’s like people are trying to say that white men are always the villains, the bad guys. Why do we have to say this?”

When Gibney attempted, again, to inform the students that they were mistaking a systemic critique for a personal attack, the students continued to argue. Eventually, she told them that “if you’re really upset, feel free to go down to legal affairs and file a racial harassment discrimination complaint.” This is exactly what they did.

Gibney is familiar with white male students taking discussions about structural racism as personal attacks, as it has happened before: in a 2009 incident, an editor of the school newspaper took offense at a similar discussion. In both that case and this one, Gibney received an official reprimand. After the latest accusation, the Vice President of Academic Affairs appended a letter to her file, in which he said he found it “it troubling that the manner in which you led a discussion on the very important topic of of structural racism alienated two students who may have been most in need of learning about this subject.”

“While I believe it was your intention to discuss structural racism generally,” he continued, “it was inappropriate for you to single out white male students in class. Your actions in [targeting] select students based on their race and gender caused them embarrassment and created a hostile learning environment.”

Gibney told lawyers at an investigatory meeting for an anti-discrimination lawsuit she and six other professors are filling against MCTC that the vice president’s words “have helped those three white male students succeed in undermining my authority as one of the few remaining black female professors here.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyZZqu-sKxQ

 

Part of the college exprience is having your beliefs challenged. If it went down like she said it did, these kids were wrong and the school's administration should have stuck by her.

The right wing is ruining this county with their anti-intellectualism. How are you going to go to college and insist on remaining as ignorant as the day you walked in?

 

It's all about blaming whitey. She should stop being such a victim.
Hey Paniro Stumper did I get the talking points right fellas?

 

Such a bizarre story, hard to believe we're seeing these cultural shifts in my lifetime...backwards.

It's as if this generation refuses to believe institutional and structural racism even exist.


Still I think a college professor should have been able to finesse this a little bit better.

You don't tell a student to go file a grievance if they aren't getting the point behind her lecture.

Is it really possible to grow up White in America and genuinely believe racism doesn't exist??

It's one thing for Faux News to peddle that garbage, but IRL most people I would think know the deal.

 

Well a lot of young people don't see this privilege especially with things being so hard for them in particular. To a lot of them being white isn't the only component in being privileged anymore it's also about being wealthy. So when understanding the very real class issue hearing that you not only have an advantage for being white and that white people oppress others begins to sound like bs. Truthfully I understand where they are coming from because the system is rapidly changing and having white skin isn't enough anymore to solidify privilege anymore.

 

Agree that the huge economic inequalities in this country coupled with the shrinking middle class are nearly trumping the hierarchy of race in America.

 

it sounds like there is a lot more to this story if seven professors are filing a grievance against the school...why are these kids taking her class if they can't handle the subject being discussed...since when does a student have the authority in a classroom to question "WHY" do we need to discuss this?

the ONLY mistake she made was telling them where to go file a report...I would have told them if they can't participate in a healthy discussion then perhaps they should leave the class and hopefully get the gist of the material from required reading

 

apples and oranges. race still trumps class. and the issue with the students was they had a joe wilson moment. instead of trying to have a discussion, they disrupted the class.

 

The people who punished that Black teacher are in denial when it comes to talking about race.

 

You truly believe that?

 

in the grand scheme of things it's better to be a poor white person than a middle class black person. statistics show poor whites have more net worth than college educated blacks. many whites inherit houses/assets from grandparents,etc which isn't the case for most blacks.

 

I will say this; if you are a white male in America, and you can't prosper, then it's just not in you to prosper. But, you can be black, have all the talent, drive and creativity as you're white counterpart and still not be able to prosper because you got tripped up by something a similarly equipped Caucasian would have been given either a pass on or the benefit of the doubt of.

That's what so many young whites fail to grasp. They think everything should be handed to them because their mommies told them they are more special than everyone else (this happens in black families, too. But the consequences are more dire than ). So, they tend to think their lives are just as hard as black peoples. And, if that's the truth (which it isn't or if it is, it's because they make it that way) than how dare those black people complain? Look, I am oppressed, too.

That and they are willfully ignorant. Never underestimate the power of that.

 

That is because it was really all about money in the first place.

 

You took the words right out of my mouth. This is an excellent synopsis.

 

The education experience in this country, especially with social studies, is not to educate but to indoctrinate. Part of turning students into upstanding Americans or patriots or whatever is to control the perception of America from a historic as well as current perspective. Historical figures on both sides have had their legacies white washed to contribute to this 'great countries storied history'.

I can understand where these white male students would feel uncomfortable being constantly reminded that white males are often seen as major contributors to Americas oppressive social structure. As a black male, I'm uncomfortable being constantly reminded of how many black males are in US prisons.

 

repped

 

Have to spread it around....

 

White males are the most sensitive members of this society...despite all the shit they talk about others...it's always been them.

 

I read Minneapolis Community and Technical College. It does not seem privileged kids end up in this sort of college. I have a feeling it would not have mattered to the kids if they were in Harvard or Princeton.The instructor ought to have been sensitive in how she broached the subject.

They might be white, but there should be that sensitivity to the diversity in their white community. Not all white people come from generations that have always benefited from these institutional and structural privileges. I make this point not to belittle her point or the black cause, but I think it could have been handled in a less aggressive or intimidating manner. The ringing of the bell on white males thereafter suggests some bitterness methinks.

 

Repped.