There is much still to reflect on and answer, and still more to do. Are the recent incidents of racial insensitivity born of arrested awareness, or do they represent the ever-increasing quests for attention in a culture that awards badges of cool for all things “me” and taboo? Do they signal a new, twisted trend, a calculated flouting of the very values of a liberal arts education? My worst fear is that, in a culture marked by hubris, combativeness and privilege, those seeking to defend the unconscionable actions of these students will somehow become the adjudicators of racial insensitivity on campuses across the country.
What we at Whitman do know in the wake of Nov. 9 is this: Our minds and our hearts have been opened by the event. Reflection is replacing reaction. Greater openness and trust now guide our common search for understanding. And if that search teaches us that understanding is indeed relative, forever shaped by context, it also reminds us that the values of preserving human dignity and respecting others are unconditional and must be pursued continually and vigilantly.
— Dr. George S. Bridges is president of Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash.
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