Greeson: College decisions that should make you wonder

Jay Greeson
Jay Greeson

OK, you know how we bemoan the "safe space" culture prevalent on college campuses and the knee-jerk internet morality mob that swoops in to take an "outraged" stance over the hurt feelings of 24-year-old sophomores because a pro-Trump message was chalked on the sidewalk?

Well, in this ever-changing, can-you-top-this world of the unbelievable, we have another college decision maker making unbelievable claims.

Meet Resmiye Oral, a professor at the University of Iowa who believes the school's mascot - Herky the Hawk - has a too-angry expression on his face that conveys "an aggressivity and even violence."

Here's the email Oral, a clinical professor of pediatrics at Iowa, wrote to Iowa athletic department officials, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen (and yes an Oral email is a modern-day techie oxymoron):

"I believe incoming students should be met with welcoming, nurturing, calm, accepting and happy messages. And our campus community is doing a great job in that regard when it comes to words. However, Herky's angry, to say the least, faces conveying an invitation to aggressivity and even violence are not compatible with the verbal messages that we try to convey to and instill in our students and campus community."

Oh brother. If we are at a place that our next generation of leaders and professionals are negatively affected by a mascot, well, it's time to build the bunker and hunker down. The war's over; Werner dropped the big one, folks.

This is ludicrous.

And worse, it's damaging to those who believe they want it. What's going to happen to a 30-year-old Iowa graduate when faced with an adult problem - professional, personal or public - and his experience of problem solving has been for his parents or student adviser or Dr. Oral to make all hurdles and bad vibes vanish?

Good luck with that.

The death of "Dixie"

In other college news, the University of Mississippi has said it will stop playing "Dixie" at football games this season.

The school's athletic teams, known as the Rebels, have long embraced a connection to the state's Southern roots.

It has occasionally been controversial, like the time a few years ago that students voted to do away with the "Rebels" mascot and go by the "Rebel Black Bears."

Well, in the latest attempt of inclusivity taking precedence over tradition, choice, discussion and especially history, the powers that be at Ole Miss have become the latest group that believes that if we pretend the Civil War didn't exist it will go away.

OK, but who gets to decide which traditions are offensive to whom? Where does the line stop?

Are the Washington Redskins offensive to Indians? Maybe. Yes, Ole Miss is a public school and the Redskins are a privately owned entity, so there is the extra wrinkle in that one.

If we are really going to be worried about the songs played at public university football games, why are we embracing songs by current artists who have entire catalogs about drugs and crime and demeaning women? (Tennessee has embraced the work of Lil' John, who has authored such all-inclusive titles as "B -- Ain't S --" and "Let's Get F -- Up," among others.)

Private moves, too

Well, what about a private college?

Ole Miss' decision comes less than a month after Vanderbilt paid the Daughters of the Confederacy more than $1.2 million to take the word "Confederate" off Memorial Hall on campus. The DoC made a donation roughly 80 years ago to the school to help complete the facility, so Vandy paid the donation back in today's dollars.

Therein lies the rub, for a lot of reasons.

When are we going to stop worrying about the appearances of fighting an issue and challenge it on merits? Would Vandy be better served by paying $1.2 million to sandblast one word from a building or setting up minority scholarships?

Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and 423-757-6343. His "Right to the Point" column runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays on A2.

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