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Originally Posted by DTD Alum
So you disagree (largely) with her. I partially disagree with her and if anybody is truly interested I can get into why, but I doubt people are. I don't think it's a big deal when people disagree with each other. I do think the nature of our cultural climate at the moment is to immediately attempt to violently destroy and negate the opinions that are different than ours. People are literally calling for this woman's resignation in a frenzy over a well articulated opinion. If somebody disagrees with her, then it should be time for dialogue between the two sides, not a frenzied attempt to destroy somebody's livelihood over saying such a thing.
Universities should be a place for debate of ideas, of viewpoints. Too long have marginalized viewpoints been violently silenced, but now I wonder if other viewpoints are being violently silenced as well, even if the intentions are good (to make a safer space for said marginalized viewpoints). This woman certainly said things that not everybody may agree with, but her thoughts are hardly extreme, nor bigoted, nor crudely or aggressively stated. Is a person's opinion on Halloween costumes (and yes I understand that this fits into a larger narrative, but still) now to be the deciding factor on whether or not said person is a hero or a villain?
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Again, I don't think she should be fired for her opinion.
I think the intensity of the reaction stems from the fact that her opinion was totally unnecessary in this case. What did she hope to accomplish by responding to that email? What pre-existing relationship did she have with those students? What would have been the harm in just letting the first email stand?