February 14
President Strauss Announces New Minority Initiatives
President Strauss announced yesterday that the university will undertake broad new initiatives for minority diversity and inclusion. Speaking to protesters from the steps of Stockbridge Hall, Strauss said that Devon will allocate $50 million toward various goals including boosting faculty representation for marginalized voices, ongoing sensitivity training for faculty members, and the hiring of at least a dozen new counselors and staff psychologists of color.
Responding to accusations from minority students that the curriculum is “hegemonic,” Strauss is implementing a new course requirement for all incoming first-years called Identity and Privilege. The course, to be constructed by student leaders and professional diversity consultants, will focus on “micro-aggression self-awareness” and “understanding voices of oppressed peoples.”
In the wake of an incident of racist language at Beta Psi fraternity, Strauss said he will also be asking the board to consider ways to phase out the fraternity system. A new panel, called the Committee on Fraternal Life at Devon, will be convened immediately to consider the matter.
Lastly, a $1 million grant will also be made to the endowment of the Afro-American Cultural Center.
These announcements came after the extended occupation of Stockbridge Hall by protesting students and an emergency meeting of the Board of Governor’s Steering Committee. The developments appear to have brought the occupation to an end as students were seen dispersing from Stockbridge. However, Afro-American Cultural Society president Jaylen Biggs sounded a tempered note, saying, “Fifty million dollars does not buy off centuries of oppression. It’s a start.”
Stillman Weathers was once again at forty-two thousand feet, enjoying a medium-rare chateaubriand with a glass of 2005 Volnay En Carelle. He settled back in his cabin chair. Things had gone well. The black students should be pleased, and order had been restored. He was slightly bothered by the rather large amount they would be spending in the search for black professors. Not that they couldn’t afford it, and not that he had anything against more minority faculty, per se, but he just wasn’t sure how many black physics professors there were to go around. (Was he racist to wonder that?) To get the numbers of new hires to which they had publicly committed, they would have to hire minority professors where they could find them, and that likely meant further building out the “studies” departments like African-American Studies. This, in turn, meant finding more students to fill those classes, which meant further boosting minority enrollment. Not that he had a problem with that, of course, but those departments did tend to radicalize their students. The Steering Committee had come to a consensus quickly; there hadn’t been any real discussion or analysis … he wondered whether they had just poured fuel on a longer-term fire.
Ah well, he would probably be off the board before all that happened, if it even did. He pushed the button in his armrest to summon Jenny, who materialized from behind a small curtain.
“Yes, sir. Can I get you something?”
“Thank you, Jenny. I believe I will get some shut-eye. Would you mind dimming the cabin lights?”
“Of course, sir.” Jenny dimmed the lights as the Gulfstream G650, master of the skies, slipped through the reaches of the stratosphere.