Imagine a time when newspapers could be discarded by a university just because one article's supposed editorial slant - or, God forbid, a column designed specifically to give a personal opinion - criticized the actions of those of power or predominant thought. Unfortunately, that time is now.
With the rising value of higher education, the push for campus diversity, and the increasing competitiveness of college admissions, the need for free and open speech on college campuses has become increasingly important. In an Orwellian twist, however, students and administrators from Texas to Boston College, when faced with an article that offended their sensibilities, rounded up piles of newspapers and had them discarded rather than fight back with constructive free speech.
There's no place where free speech should be valued more than in college - supposedly the "marketplace of free ideas." It is only through free and open dialogue that we can truly discover our own opinions.
Free speech can take many forms: an op-ed, a rally, a critical cartoon. Satire, one such type of constitutionally-protected free speech, can be defined as irony, derision, or caustic wit used to attack or expose folly, vice, or stupidity. It has perhaps the most potential to offend because it relies on not only humor for success, but also on the difficult task of inverting the very thing it seeks to criticize. One of the best examples I can give you is Spike Lee's Bamboozled, which uses blackface minstrelsy to expose the racist strains that continue to pervade our perceptions of black identity and culture.
Sadly, the same was not achieved at The Daily Princetonian, which published a column in its annual joke issue last Wednesday written in broken English and utilized a series of Asian stereotypes. Referring to Yale freshman Jian Li, who filed a bias complaint against Princeton last year on the grounds that the admissions office discriminates against Asian applicants, the column begins, "Hi, Princeton! Remember me? I so good at math and science. Perfect 2400 SAT score. Ring bells?"
Editor-in-chief Chanakya Sethi issued an e-mail apology for offending Princetonian readers, but rejected the allegation that the column was racist, citing that it was written by a diverse group of students that included Asians, and that its purpose was "to lampoon racism by showing it at its most outrageous."
As a former editor, I can commiserate with the Princetonian editorial board in its insistence that they had no racist agenda with this column. Sometimes things you print just come out terribly wrong without any intention of doing so. They have a right to free speech, and they should not be sanctioned for this unintentional mistake. Doing so would endanger the very rights that allow us to freely criticize the racist message that the column perpetuates.
Consequently, the column could not have failed more utterly and miserably in its attempts to satirize Li's rejection. It didn't shed light on the "model minority" stereotype on which Li originally based his argument - the idea that Asian-Americans are the obedient, hardworking minorities to which other marginalized racial groups should aspire. It didn't offer any insight into the debate over affirmative action, reverse discrimination, or the changing demographics of college campuses.
Instead, they filled the column with stereotypes about academic overachievement and cooking dogs that amounted to nothing more than an ill-conceived jab at Asian-American students.
As an Asian-American, I don't think that it "provoked serious thought about issues of race, fairness, and diversity." All the column did was dredge up my encounters with racism - people making slanted eyes to imitate me, telling me to go back to the Motherland - and make me shudder without showing some kind of deeper satiric lesson.
For those offended, I join you in taking this as a reminder of the continuing stereotypes and views that we should keep fighting through our own right to free speech, not through censorship.
Carolyn Mattus is a columnist for The Heights. She welcomes comments at mailto:mattusc@bcheights.com
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