A minority student at UC San Diego recently admitted to hanging a noose in the school library. The student involved has apologized and called the incident a "harmless prank" and a "mindless act and a stupid mistake." She has denied harboring any racial animosity toward blacks. This hasn't stopped a firestorm of controversy from erupting on campus.
A wave of angry demonstrations have since been held. On Monday, 200 black students wearing black bandanas held a silent protest at the Sather Gate on campus. UC San Diego students wearing red handkerchiefs over the faces took over the chancellor's office for several hours. On Wednesday, campus administrators held a "teach in" against intolerance. The school is also holding a campus-wide "Battle Hate" campaign.
The Black Student Union is exploiting the situation by demanding that UC San Diego capitulate to a list of 32 racial demands. This includes boosting the "African American curriculum and campus activities" and requiring students to take courses in "African-American, ethnic and gender studies." The university has denied having the authority to force students to take multicultural courses.
Yesterday, UC San Diego folded and raised the white flag of surrender:
The university announced a plan to address the growing racial tensions. It includes making greater efforts to recruit minority faculty, forming a commission to address the campus climate, ensuring ongoing funding for the chancellor's diversity office, creating an African American Resource Center and establishing quarterly meetings between the administration and members of the Black Student Union. Many of these recommendations are not new.
With all the uproar this fake hate crime has created, an outside observer might get the mistaken impression that something really awful had happened at UC San Diego, for example, a student had been brutally raped or murdered. The tragic reality of America's college campuses these days is that insensitive pranks which harm no one but violate the taboos of political correctness generate more outrage and garner more attention than some of the most horrific violent crimes.
After all of this hullabaloo about "racism," it is ironic to see race-based groups clumsily exploiting the situation with threatening demands for more phony PC courses and more money for political hacks. It is impossible to take this farce seriously. The only appropriate response a sane person can have is laughter.
