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Ithaca College Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 14, 2015 31 Comments
Ithaca College is pretty sensitive to "microaggressions." What is a microaggression? Where have you been, under a rock? (I hope that didn't offend you.) One of the inventors of the terminology and theory describes it this way:
Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership. In many cases, these hidden messages may invalidate the group identity or experiential reality of target persons, demean them on a personal or group level, communicate they are lesser human beings, suggest they do not belong with the majority group, threaten and intimidate, or relegate them to inferior status and treatment.
For some background, see our prior posts: At Ithaca College, in what may have been a first, last spring the student government voted to set up a microaggression reporting system. (I don't know if they actually ended up setting it up.) This semester started at Ithaca College with accusations of campus security insensitivity:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 25, 2015 26 Comments
It has been a while since we have reported on Microaggression mania on college campuses: What is a microaggression? One of the inventors of the terminology and theory describes it this way:
Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership. In many cases, these hidden messages may invalidate the group identity or experiential reality of target persons, demean them on a personal or group level, communicate they are lesser human beings, suggest they do not belong with the majority group, threaten and intimidate, or relegate them to inferior status and treatment.
As our prior reporting reflects, microaggression theory and practice are passive-aggressive control mechanisms meant to empower those who can claim protected group identity (it's a lot more than about race or gender) over those who cannot.
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