Reed College Students Protest Western Civ Program as ‘Eurocentric’

Reed College Students Protest Western Civ Program as ‘Eurocentric’

Reed College might as well be a sister school to Evergreen State College. They’re both in the liberal northwest and they both lean to the far left.

Last year, this happened: Reed College Students Stage Walkout in Solidarity With Black Lives Matter

This year, a student group called “Reedies Against Racism” decided that a Western Civ program called Hum 110, which is required for all Freshmen, is too Eurocentric. The group has been staging a silent protest of the program since last year but apparently got tired of being quiet.

Colleen Flaherty reports at Inside Higher Ed:

Occupation of Hum 110

Three times a week, at 9 a.m., all of Reed’s 300-plus freshmen shuffle into a lecture hall for what’s known on campus as Hum 110. Starting with the Epic of Gilgamesh and ending with the Bible and Apuleius’ The Golden Ass, the required literary and historical survey of the ancient world is supposed to lay the foundation for students’ future studies in the humanities. Freshmen also get a taste of different teaching styles and disciplinary perspectives, as classes are taught by two dozen faculty members across fields. Those lectures are supplemented by smaller breakout sessions, called conferences.

Hum 110 — like virtually everything at Reed — is rigorous. But alumni who took the course as far back as 1943, when it was conceived, tend to recall it as one of their most worthwhile. Things changed last fall, though, when Reed, like so many other institutions, faced student demands that it be more inclusive of people of color.

Cut to Aug. 28, the first Hum 110 lecture of this year. Reedies Against Racism had announced in a widely circulated email that they planned to continue their protest this year. They also asked faculty members involved in the program for class time to introduce themselves — a departure from the agreement about not interrupting teaching time. Hum 110 program leaders denied the request and, according to Reed, polled one another on what they wanted to do if the protesters attempted to disrupt the first lecture. They decided they’d cancel the class if need be.

“I’m sorry, this is a classroom space and this is not appropriate,” Elizabeth Drumm, Hum 110 program chair and the John and Elizabeth Yeon Professor of Spanish and Humanities, told a small group of protesters when they attempted to talk during class. Members of Reedies Against Racism continued, saying they had created a supplementary syllabus. The professors at the front of the room got up and left.

This short video shows the moment when the faculty walked out:

Two days later, the protesters returned and things got much worse. More from Flaherty:

Two days later, Hum 110 students met again, and again the protesters attempted to introduce themselves — this time minutes before 9 a.m., technically outside class time. They talked about their objections to the class and were interrupted by faculty members who disagreed with their characterization. A group of freshmen also got involved, complaining that their lecture had been taken over, and the conversation became a shouting match. The scene echoed many that have played out on college campuses within the past few years surrounding inclusion. But for many present it was unsettlingly un-Reed-like: a violation of the campus norm of passionate and rigorous but civil debate.

This second video is from Powerline, where Steven Hayward adds this:

Will the administration have the stuffing to suspend or expel some of these brats? A backlash from other students seems to be building, according to a report on the matter in The Economist:

Yet at Reed College this term there are also signs of a counter-revolution. A professor of Muslim studies refused to lecture in front of protesters and taught his class of 150 students outside, under a tree. Some freshmen have shouted down protesters. One (black) student told them: “This is a classroom. This is not the place. Right now we are trying to learn. We are freshmen students.” The rest of his speech was drowned out by applause.

This is cued to start at the seven minute mark:

Why are these students paying $67,000 per year to attend Reed College when they’re clearly smarter than all of their professors? It makes no sense.

Featured image via YouTube.

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