1. Transparency
For example, there is now a demand for greater accountability from the CC, particularly a call to stop the abuse of power we saw last semester when student representatives took the cowardly approach of discriminating against a Jewish student organization, Williams Initiative for Israel (WIFI), by failing to reveal their vote records. This way student representatives managed to bring negative national/international attention to their decision in a manner which shielded them from appropriate individual consequences.
Pro Tip: The Williams Record should also also list its editorial board members and how they vote on each collective opinion. The current practice of saying that an editorial opinion was the product of a majority of the board members is a subterfuge designed to give each member of the board the opportunity to plausibly deny they supported any particular editorial position.
2. Diversity and Equality
The major news from last semester was not the process of approving funding for Black Previews. It was the outright, hateful, bigot tirade that two CARE Now black activist students directed again white male students on the College Council at the April 9, 2019 meeting. Watch the video (the shouting begins at 45:00).
The verbal attack on the young white men was so intense that it brought some of them to tears. This display of emotion only emboldened the verbally abusive students. Seyi Olaose '21 used these tears to further the white student's humiliation.
Seyi Olaose: This is white liberal s***.
Isaiah Blake: This is the s***, the tears…
Seyi Olaose: Because nobody wants to talk. Because you had a lot of questions. You had a lot of questions. And I’ve had classes with you. I know what kind of d***heads you are. I’ve had political science with you. It’s s*** that opens up all a yo white moderate f***ing liberal bullshit. I know the type of person you are. So what do you want to say?
The Williams Record conveniently forgets its responsibility to preserve a healthy learning environment for white male students on campus, students who should have never been verbally abused in this manner.
Pro Tip: The Williams Record should start printing up anonymous comments from white students who wish to complain about the way their are being mistreated by members of the administration, faculty and student body. Failing to protect white male students is clearly racism by any definition.
3. Communication
The Williams Record insists The CC site should be updated more frequently to reflect weekly developments. Meanwhile, the paper only reports once a week and censors comments from those it disagrees with including outside political activists.
Pro Tip: The Williams Record should permit its opponents to register their objections to their news articles. This way full communication might be restored...especially for ex-faculty and ex-students who have been harmed by the leftwing bias of the campus.
4. FinCom Reform
The Record wants the student body to elect the members of the committee that approves requests for funding. I assume this is because the FinCom is dominated by white guys. The Record probably thinks fiscally responsible, white men would be less likely to make those decisions if they were subject to direct election.
Pro Tip: Likewise, the Williams Record should open up the deliberations of its editorial board. In fact, the members of the board should be directly elected by the students. The editorial board should be expected to behave in a manner more consistent with its own seemingly Maoist ideology.
5. Acknowledging Mistakes and Revising Policy
The Williams Record asks the CC to correct some of its "mistakes" while ignoring the most glaring, alarming mistakes which caught national attention. There is no suggestion that the CC should properly and accurately record its minutes, enlist a Sargent-at-Arms to police their meetings, or follow its own bylaws for the achievement of a quorum. The CC meetings I watched last semester were poorly led, poorly policed, and conducted with little attention to the CC's own, written rules and regulations. This is an affront to anyone with a sincere interest in democratic governance. It also opens up members of the CC to public ridicule for their fecklessness and inexperience with obvious political norms.
Pro Tip: The Williams Record should follow its own procedures and immediately do everything in its power to make the campus more hospitable for white male students, Republicans, Jews, and conservatives. This means appointing conservative columnists, developing positive stories about the white race and its cultural achievements, protecting pro-Israel students from physical threats and verbal abuse, and providing opportunities for conservative students, faculty and alumni to add their opinions and recommendations in a fair and balanced manner within each article.
The most significant question on campus is whether or not the Williams Record has the guts needed to apply the standards it expects of the CC to itself. Does it, in the end, do the right thing or not?
John C. Drew, Ph.D. is a former Williams College political science professor. He is an occasional contributor at American Thinker, Breitbart, Front Page, PJMedia and WND.
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