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Racism, White Guilt, and Academia: My letter to the President of Washington State University
I receive the Washington State Magazine from my (former) Alma Mater, Washington State University. Due to a phrase in the President’s Letter in the most recent issue, I sent the following letter to the President, because I don’t think that sentiment should go unremarked.
Published in EducationMr. Kirk Schultz, President
Dear Mr. Schultz:
I am a graduate of WSU (BS, Psychology, 1971), and I receive the Washington State Magazine. In reading the last issue, I noticed something very interesting in the From the President column you wrote. You mention, in the very first paragraph, some conditions that are affecting WSU, the State, and the wider world. I was quite surprised that you mention the “continuing challenges of Covid-19, Systemic Racism, and state funding”. Now, it appears to me as though you are saying that systemic racism is a problem at WSU. Do you really admit that the University is systemically racist? Are you admitting that, 50 years after the Civil Rights Movement, that my Alma Mater is systemically racist? Do you believe that no progress has been made in the treatment and opportunities afforded to black people in America since 1964?
I seem to remember that your predecessor as President was a gentleman named Elson Floyd. I also seem to remember that Mr. Floyd was a black man. Now, if Mr. Floyd were here today, could you honestly admit, to his face, that WSU is Systemically Racist? And what might he say to you if you did? Wouldn’t the admission that WSU is systemically racist be a total affront to the sensibilities of your esteemed predecessor, ignoring all the advances that enabled him to rise to the level of University President?
Personally, my belief is that you, as in most of academia these days, have fallen for the falsehoods perpetuated everywhere by the openly Marxist group that calls itself Black Lives Matter. That Marxist group has been behind months of riots, looting, and burning cities all over America, including in Seattle and Portland, supposedly to protest the deaths of some black men (most of whom had criminal records and were engaging in unlawful activity), at the hands of police; also note that most homicides of black men are not at the hands of police, but at the hands of other black men. It makes me sad that my Alma Mater has been basically taken over by the Leftists and Marxists. There is little that I can do about this, since the takeover has been obvious for many years.
I do think that you should take a good, hard look at your University, and give some thought to what has been happening. WSU is not, and never was, any kind of racist. Besides, if it is racist, why ever would I want to donate money to a racist institution? Or why would any alumni donate to a racist institution? I have given up donating to WSU, because I try not to support Leftist institutions, and I refuse “white guilt”.
Next year, I will be a Golden Grad. I have given some thought to returning to Campus for Homecoming next year. I will not drive 300 miles to celebrate at a racist institution, however. If by then the governor has relaxed his unilateral restrictions over all of Society, and you have given second thoughts to whether WSU is really systemically racist, I might come.
I thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
Well done. I think we have to pick up the work of Betsy de Vos like you have done here: If I receive a similar letter, I will do the same: If you, my alma mater, are guilty of systemic racism, then I cannot support you. And if you have been lying all these years when you said you do not discriminate, then I would like my past donations back.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for a reply.
I am not expecting any kind of reply. I am also not expecting to be present at next year’s Golden Grad celebrations. I have better uses for my time. Like supporting Hillsdale College.
Does the university president secretly hope for a federal inquiry into WSU for its ongoing and apparently admitted violations of federal law’s restrictions on accepting federal money, i.e., falsely certifying to non-discrimination? See Princeton U. investigation.
Yes, I think during the second Trump term, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos needs to also be looking at WSU for returning a bunch of federal money they shouldn’t have received.
However, under a Biden administration, I expect WSU would be give MORE money to (supposedly) clean up its systemic racism.
(H/T to Paul Mirrengoff over at Powerline)
So, if WSU has been systemically racist lo these many years and lied about it to the Feds, they should fork over all that loot that they have been raking in. And if they mailed those applications, that constitutes mail fraud.
Cough it up, Mr. Schultz.
But He Knows Nothing!!!
My copy of the Wazzu magazine always goes straight into the trash, so I missed this latest.
As I have said over and over again on Ricochet and elsewhere the only systematic racism in this country is Affirmative Action programs in academia , hiring , business quotas ,set asides and bid preferences.
But that’s the good kind of racism. You aren’t allowed to criticize that.
About five years ago, after reading my alma mater’s alumni magazine with increasing disgust, I stopped donating to the school and began directing my donations to FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education). I now actually enjoy receiving calls from the eager students trying to pry a donation from me as I explain to them why I stopped giving to the school and where I send my money now.
I have done the same thing in the past, but it never seems to have any effect. So I quit answering the phone when they call. When the kids from Hillsdale call, I pick right up and talk to them. Ray and I are endowing a scholarship there.
What a letter! Woohoo!
To me, this claim of systemic racism is like the stance some state governors are taking with COVID – not easing restrictions until there is a cure, or no more deaths. The truth is, there will always be deaths from various flus, and COVID now joins that list. Likewise, there will always be racists and bigots in society, but black “leadership” vows to fight on until there are no more racists (a fight that guarantees donations will continue to come in).
I’m proud to be a graduate of my alma mater, but I send my money to Hillsdale instead.
Oh, but no, RushBabe! WSU is not racist. WSU is joining with the rest of Wokeademia to save the world from YOUR racism. Those at WSU have acknowledged the racism that their past upbringing has naturally inculcated into their souls. But there stands WSU, ready to begin the cleansing of American society with the powerful antidote and antiseptic of Anti-racism. All those non-BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) at WSU work daily, nay constantly, to purge their own racism, and soon they will come to purge yours.
Precisely. Conservative alumns of universities and colleges that have engaged in this kind of exhibitionist self-flagellation over “systemic racism” on their campuses should be writing letters and emails to the Department of Education and the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ, demanding these universities forfeit federal funding, repay funding they have been embezzling and cooperate in the prosecution of the university administrators responsible for these violations of federal civil rights law.
Yowza.
Sounds like President Schultz pissed off the wrong alum.
And he was also lamenting the “state funding” issue, i.e. the state does not give the colleges enough money. If they got rid of all administrators with “diversity” in their job titles, they could save a bunch. I have no control over my tax money, but I do control my personal funds. Our donations go 100% to Hillsdale.
The admission of systemic racism would seem likely to be taken as a slap-in-the-face insult to the former president. To see this, one needs to realize that the ending of incident- and culturally accepted forms of racism that existed openly prior to 1968 was succeeded by the age of White Guilt, which is widely understood by most blacks, even those who disagree with the premise, to be synonymous with the expansion of Black Power. Actual incidents of real racism have almost vanished and are virtually non-existent today, but in order to cash in on getting what is owed to them by centuries of the old racism, Black radicals have re-coined White Guilt as Systemic Racism. It might be invisible for long stretches of time, but the Guilt will never die, and even the slightest vestige of racist-like behavior (think Covid-like symptoms) is justified in bringing out a completely disproportional retribution, not for what happened today, but in justification for what happened over the centuries past. Since it is almost certain that the previous president took office in the age of White Guilt, his appointment could be taken as an apology, and if so, would denigrate his personal success in his achievement. This represents one of the most virulent forms of racism, not a demeaning racism such as segregation which strikes by restricting your physical self from enjoying the same freedoms as whites do; this is a racism that attacks at one’s very soul, to undermine any personal pride taken in enjoying one’s freedom as an equal in society, and it a form of racism that is fostered by the Democrat Party.
Along with majors that have the word “Studies” in their title . . .
You should insist on a reply.