Ignorance and Racism on Campus

Does this qualify as over-compensation for society once having been discriminatory toward minorities of every kind? That academic institutions have become super-sensitive to slights, real or imagined, aimed at visible minorities, other-gendered, those with compromised intelligence or physical attributes? Nothing wrong with being sensitive to others, particularly in a pluralist society, one that espouses egalitarianism.

But there is such a thing as going overboard, of tossing out intelligent discrimination in favour of all-out war on anything perceived to be tainted with a different type of discrimination. And, truth is, it ill behooves young people garnering an academic education to become so slothful that they cannot educate themselves on the fine points of the items they reject as representing non-inclusiveness or the belittlement of others.

The pendulum swings all too easily the other way, where those who accuse others of ill-doing begin to practise it themselves. Take, for example, the recent incident at Carleton University, where an uninformed member of the student association took it into his head on little authority that cystic fibrosis should no longer be the standard charity entitled to funds raised by the university's yearly Shinerama event. On the basis that CF is held to lack "inclusiveness".

In the belief that this dread disease strikes mostly white males, the tradition of funding research into cystic fibrosis was voted out as the beneficiary of the frosh week Shinerama fundraiser. Trouble was, nothing could be further from the truth; CF strikes females, orientals and blacks as well as whites, simply in declining numbers. And should it matter that white males benefit from research into their life-defining, life-stunting disease?

Not to be outdone, here is University of Ottawa Public Interest Research Group, funded by student fees, along with other university groups, taking the position that a Jewish student group, Hillel, has a distasteful orientation. One whose purpose OPIRG declined to be associated with, and whom OPIRG labelled "apartheid". Why? Because Hillel is associated in the minds of the OPIRG committee with Israel, and in their great wisdom they perceive Israel to be an apartheid state.

The U. of O. Hillel, part of an international network of Jewish student associations had ventured to request assistance of OPIRG in publicizing a speech to take place on November 20, by the head of a Ugandan group whose work on sustainable development projects within the African Jewish community it felt might have a wider interest in the university population. The response from OPIRG was to the effect that though the event "seems very interesting" the board would neither endorse nor promote it.

"This decision was made because your organization (Hillel) and its relationship (sic) to apartheid Israel," stated the email response. "Zionist Ideology does not fit within OPIRG's mandate of human right's (sic), social justice." The mandate of OPIRG, it was made abundantly clear, is to "bring together and build upon a broad-based community dedicated to social, economic and environmental justice."

OPIRG stood apart from other campus organizations in its response to Hillel's request for event promotion. And the Jewish student group stands firmly in support of Israel's right to self-determination. Interpreted by OPIRG as "apartheid" in nature. The last resort of anti-Semites who see anything Jewish in origin, value or appearance as odious.

The Jewish student group sponsors many events of general interest, such as a talk by an openly gay Orthodox rabbi; another by someone speaking of the persecution of homosexuals in Germany. The speaker whom Hillel asked OPIRG to help promote, spoke of schools whose purpose was to feed and educate 500 Jewish, Muslim and Christian children, all studying together. An obvious human-rights success story.

OPIRG stands accused of political incorrectness; outright bigotry, in fact.