Once again, Northwestern has descended into the absurdity of political correctness, now defined downward as “cultural insensitivity.” Indeed, Orwell is spinning in his grave. Not in disbelief, but jealous that Big Brother could not have come up with this.
If reported correctly, it appears that the ski team engaged in, of all things, an off-campus costume party. A student, Kellyn Lewis, passed by the apartment where the event took place and took umbrage to some of the outfits he saw (and photographed) through the window. Much like a Tom Wolfe character in “The Bonfire of the Vanities,” a character based on Al Sharpton, Mr. Lewis has mastered the art of perennial indignity. Mr. Lewis created controversy out of nothing. Sadly, NU’s administration and The Daily have taken the bait.
It’s not surprising that now the ski team now must cower in a mode of Soviet-style forced repenting. Like the Duke lacrosse team controversy a few years ago, current NU students know that college administrators are more concerned with appeasing the loud, and not defending the rights of all students. Gone are the days when former NU president Arnold Weber in 1986 actually took a stand for free speech on campus and denied tenure to Prof. Barb Foley when she tried to prevent controversial leader Adolpho Colero, Nicuaraguan contra leader, from speaking at a campus lecture.
The bigger problem here is that there is no end to this right think march. Show the Lone Ranger in an American Culture class? Out of the question, just look at poor Tonto. Watch TV off-campus and Archie Bunker shows up in “All In The Family” reruns? Well if Mr. Lewis is taking pictures outside your window, you had better pack up and transfer to U of I (sans your Chief Illiniwek headgear, of course). And you can bet that some Rebecca Crown bureaucrat is already hatching plans to approve every Halloween costume this year.
So NU, play nice and don’t “misrepresent Bangladeshi culture.” Because the thought police are out there and looking for anything to be outraged by, even by the “misrepresentation of Bangladeshi culture.”
Alexander W. Stephens
WCAS ’87
New York, NY
