Swastikas, nooses, a KKK-style hood, and a student-run TV show featuring offensive racial epithets: An ugly spate of racially charged incidents has occurred across several University of California campuses over the past month, causing consternation, outcry, and fear that bigotry is alive and well among the young and educated.
Students have protested and administrators have condemned the actions, but the question remains: What lies behind the sudden parade of prejudice—a growing climate of insensitivity on campuses, or a bunch of immature kids yearning for peer acceptance and attention?
“My guess is some of all of those things,” said interim UC Provost Lawrence H. Pitts. “I’d like to believe it’s really an extreme minority. It does suggest there’s some underlying feeling of intolerance in our community.”…Read More