Liberalsarecool Loc: Texas

THE RECENT PROTESTS by college students across the country are mostly about racial insensitivity and charges of discrimination and mistreatment on campuses today. But there also are complaints about what students see as symbolic vestiges of a r****t past. Some of these objections are more valid than others, but even the worthy ones raise difficult questions for institutions that revere tradition but also have obligations to the current generation of students.

On Wednesday, Princeton University announced it would no longer refer to the heads of its residential colleges as “masters,” a term inspired by the ancient universities in England. Dean of the College Jill Dolan said the title “heads of college” better captures “the spirit of their work and their contributions to campus residential life.”

Maybe so, but the name change also was a response to a concern, also voiced at Yale, that the term “master” is racially offensive because it could be associated with s***ery. Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber seemed to allude to that fanciful theory when he said that the word “master” had “discomfited some students, faculty and the heads of college themselves.” Never mind that the title of master of a college has no more to do with a s***e master than it does with a master chef. (It is more similar to master’s degrees, which presumably Princeton will continue to confer.)

Much less frivolous are demands that colleges rename buildings or programs identified with historical figures who supported s***ery or segregation. At Yale, some students want the university to find a new name for Calhoun College, named after the 19th century politician John C. Calhoun, a Yale graduate, U.S. senator, vice president

— and one of the nation’s fiercest defenders of s***ery. At Princeton, a group known as the Black Justice League has called for the name of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the U.S., to be stripped from a residential college and the Wilson School of Public Policy and International Affairs.

It’s certainly understandable that African American students would feel uncomfortable residing in a college named for Calhoun, who is best known for championing the s***eholding Southern states. Wilson is a more complicated case. Historians say he harbored r****t views, and note that as president he resegregated the federal workforce. Yet his legacy is much larger and includes his role on the world stage. A former president of Princeton, he is also a more significant figure in that university’s history than Calhoun was in Yale’s.

We can see why African American — and other — students object to honoring historical figures who held noxious views about race. Yet the sad reality is that the United States has a long history of r****m and many of its founders were s***eholders. There is no easy answer to the question of whether or when the names of r****t historical figures should be removed from buildings or monuments. In some situations, an attempt to eliminate offense can amount to rewriting history. Better in those cases to acknowledge the history and learn from it. In other cases, the names should go.

Trooper745 Loc: Carolina

It would be nice, if you would give the source from which you plagiarize your posts. For example, I'm sure the LA Times Editorial Board would appreciate some mention in this post.

no propaganda please Loc: moon orbiting the third rock from the sun

KHH1 is here by a new name , just ignore him, and maybe he will return to the tunnel where the other naked mole rats live.

Trooper745 Loc: Carolina

You gotta be s**tting me! I thought that r****t dumbass had committed self-immolation to protest the existence of white people.

no propaganda please Loc: moon orbiting the third rock from the sun

How many new comers post a dozen threads right away, and do not introduce themselves at all. the style is the same. Archie noticed it first, then several others. how else but a different email address and a new name, could he get back her before his month was up?

Trooper745 Loc: Carolina

My only complaint about OPP is that it doesn't have a way to put someone on an "Ignore List", and not even see their foolish posts.