Babson College freshmen will endure sensitivity training due to 1978 anti-Semitic incident

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Babson College freshmen will endure sensitivity training due to 1978 anti-Semitic incident

4 hours ago Education

At small, private and notably business-focused Babson College in the suburbs of Boston, school president Leonard A. Schlesinger apologized last week for some anti-Semitic antics surrounding a 1978 soccer game.

Schlesinger also announced that 500 first-year students will be saddled with an anti-bias program during orientation because of the incident, which occurred during the Carter administration, 17 years before most of the freshmen were even born.

In addition, reports Boston.com, there will also be a week of training for professors and staff members.

The Anti-Defamation League will formulate the training.

The men’s soccer match for which incoming students will now suffer occurred on November 4, 1978 between Babson and Brandeis University, a school in a nearby suburb that had — and still has — a notable population of Jewish students.

During practice, some Babson players put up a poster containing the letters “K T J,” short for “Kill The Jews,” and a Star of David superimposed with a cross. Some players — who by now are in their fifties — also wore swastikas and yelled, “Holocaust,” explains Boston.com. In a gym the next day, a sign reading “Happy Holocaust” was discovered.

It’s not clear if any anti-Semitic imagery or language occurred during the actual game.

It’s also not clear which team won. Babson finished 13-3-2 that season. Brandeis’s 1978 record is not readily available.

At the time, Babson’s administration responded to the soccer team’s disturbing anti-Jewish antics in several ways, notes Boston.com. The president at the time publicized the event to the entire campus. The team also had to write formal apologies and watch a movie about the atrocities of the Holocaust. The athletic director also issued an apology.

These punishments and acts of contrition are not sufficient for President Schlesinger now, though — at least not since a student recently informed him of the incident.

He is particularly galled that Babson did not formally apologize to Brandeis.

“Although it is some 35 years later, as president of this institution, I believe I have a fundamental responsibility to respond to what I have learned, including extending my most sincere public apology to members of the Babson and Brandeis communities for the unconscionable behaviors they experienced,” Schlesinger pontificated in a school press release.

The College Fix was able to reach Babson’s administration via email. Michael Chmura, a spokesman for the college, apparently ignored a question about any fresh acts of bias or racism on campus that might call for sensitivity training. Instead, Chmura blandly said the school is instituting the training “in (a) desire to support our diverse campus community.”

Chmura declined to disclose the cost of the training.

Annual costs for tuition and expenses at Babson total just a whisker under $60,500, according to the school’s website.

http://news.yahoo.com/babson-college-freshmen-endure-sensitivity-training-due-1978-170615543.html

[Karee 4,190]

They should tell Jesse Jackson they're sorry. Wait.. Wrong thread.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

They should tell Jesse Jackson they're sorry. Wait.. Wrong thread.

Will it save their kids and grandkids from having to take a sensitivity training program ?

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Seems like only some groups are entitled to atonement for actions long in the past. I will have to agree that this is a strange story though.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Seems like only some groups are entitled to atonement for actions long in the past. I will have to agree that this is a strange story though.

What "group" is entitled to "atonement" here, and from whom ?

[Jacque67 7,328]

Schlesinger is a publicity seeking fink!

[Protocol417 161]

While I do think it's awfully strange to have it implemented so many years after the fact... it's sensitivity training, during orientation, which means it's probably just a short lecture. Hardly a huge enough deal to warrant words like "endure", "be saddled with", and "save their kids and grandkids from".

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

While I do think it's awfully strange to have it implemented so many years after the fact... it's sensitivity training, during orientation, which means it's probably just a short lecture. Hardly a huge enough deal to warrant words like "endure", "be saddled with", and "save their kids and grandkids from".

Well, you're speculating on what this "sensitivity training" would entail, as the article doesn't go into details.

However, it does mention that the staff will have to take a week-long training course. And it says the Anti-Defamation League is going to develop the programs.

According to the article, the perps in the cited incident were already punished and already had some "sensitivity training" - 35 years ago.

What is not clear is what exactly warranted this rather sudden move to create a new policy today citing an incident in 1978 - the spokesperson for the university declined to answer questions about any recent incidents that might have been a cause for concern, or might indicate a need for educating the students and staff.

I suspect there may be more to this than meets the eye - Schleshinger knows what it is, but isn't saying.

[Karee 4,190]

However, it does mention that the staff will have to take a week-long training course. And it says the Anti-Defamation League is going to develop the programs.

All for a large fee I'm sure.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Well, you're speculating on what this "sensitivity training" would entail, as the article doesn't go into details.

However, it does mention that the staff will have to take a week-long training course. And it says the Anti-Defamation League is going to develop the programs.

According to the article, the perps in the cited incident were already punished and already had some "sensitivity training" - 35 years ago.

What is not clear is what exactly warranted this rather sudden move to create a new policy today citing an incident in 1978 - the spokesperson for the university declined to answer questions about any recent incidents that might have been a cause for concern, or might indicate a need for educating the students and staff.

I suspect there may be more to this than meets the eye - Schleshinger knows what it is, but isn't saying.

so you are against all sensitivity training for college students ?

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

so you are against all sensitivity training for college students ?

Not sure where you came up with that idea... but it's not the first time you've been out somewhere in the asteroid belt....

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Not sure where you came up with that idea... but it's not the first time you've been out somewhere in the asteroid belt....

I did not state an idea I asked a question. i asked a very straight forward question .

[Darnell 8,478]

is this the first year for the training?

maybe the lawsuit filed, ages past, finally had some resolution ?

if this is just a continuance , though, of all prior years, well - hey ! sorry ! keep it up, Babson - you've got a court-order in place requiring the training.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

I did not state an idea I asked a question. i asked a very straight forward question .

Give me a specific example of what you have in mind - including what subjects it would cover, who would be required to take it and when, who would design the course and teach it, etc.

is this the first year for the training?

maybe the lawsuit filed, ages past, finally had some resolution ?

if this is just a continuance , though, of all prior years, well - hey ! sorry ! keep it up, Babson - you've got a court-order in place requiring the training.

What lawsuit ? What court order ? Do you have additional info not included in the OP article ?

Edited July 2, 2013 by Falastin_Qalbi

[Darnell 8,478]

What lawsuit ? What court order ? Do you have additional info not included in the OP article ?

Apologies - I just assumed a lawsuit and court order.

Else, why would they be doing this, ages past the occurrence?