Harvard University Placemats Explain To Students How To Discuss Politics With Parents

Adapted from a similar guide published by an activist group called Showing Up for Racial Justice, the placemats address controversial topics including student activism about race at Yale and other colleges and the debate over whether the U.S. should welcome Syrian refugees.
Photo: Katherine L Borrazzo

The United States is nearing completion of the White House program to transform, to totally dumb down the academic community. Yale University students enthusiastically sign petitions to repeal the First Amendment. Harvard University students are provided guidelines for speaking with their relatives during Christmas vacation, now called who knows what. In Colorado a member of the ACLU board of directors urged voters to kill supporters of Donald Trump. Cambridge, MA city councilors are unable to discuss a terror bombing by two young city residents granted asylum, but they are quick to condemn any skepticism about Muslim terrorists in the nation. Useful idiots rule by emotion and transform the country into the Idiocracy. Showing Up For Racial Justice is related to Black Lives Matter, which condemns racial profiling and white privilege. Perplexed that they oppose racial profiling of black people, but enthusiastcially encourage profiling white people.

[From article]
At the close of a semester that saw a surge in racial tensions on college campuses nationwide, Harvard outfitted a number of dining halls with laminated guides printed with what purports to be advice for students discussing issues related to race and diversity with family members, but that some undergraduates decried as telling them what to think politically.
Adapted from a similar guide published by an activist group called Showing Up for Racial Justice, the placemats address controversial topics including student activism about race at Yale and other colleges, the debate over whether the U.S. should welcome Syrian refugees, and Harvard’s recent decision to change the title of its “House master” position.
[. . .]
Dubbed “Holiday Placemat for Social Justice” and described as “a placemat guide for holiday discussions on race and justice with loved ones,” the placemats pose hypothetical statements on those topics and offer a “response” to each of those in a question and answer format. For example, under a section entitled “Yale/Student Activism,” the placemat poses the question, “Why are Black students complaining? Shouldn’t they be happy to be in college?” and suggests that students respond by saying, “When I hear students expressing their experiences on campus I don’t hear complaining.”
In the center of the placemat are what it calls “tips for talking to families,” with recommendations such as “Listen mindfully before formulating a thoughtful response” and “Breathe.”
[. . .]
The placemats are endorsed by Harvard administrators. The product of a collaboration between the College’s Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and the Freshman Dean’s Office, the placemats first appeared in Annenberg last week. Jasmine M. Waddell, the freshman resident dean for Elm Yard, described the placemats’ goal as giving freshmen strategies for discussing those issues with their families over winter break

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/12/16/placements-race-discussions-released/

College-Distributed Advice on Race Discussions Divides Students
Some students criticize College materials on discussing race and diversity issues as telling them what to think
By DAPHNE C. THOMPSON,

Harvard CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
December 15, 2015