Secret History #8: Death by Bureaucracy

Okay, so welcome back from the break.

Today I want to talk about an incident

that happened in October 2015 at Yale

University. What happened was this um

Halloween is coming up and in Halloween

people like to dress up silly, get

drunk, have a good time.

and a university department called the

intercultural affairs committee sent an

email to students saying it's Halloween

you guys want to have fun that's fine

but please be sensitive

about the feelings of other people. So

for example do not dress up like a panda

because we have Chinese students and

they might be offended if you dress up

like a panda. Okay, so this email went

out to all the students at Yale

and one teacher who works at a resident

residential college called Silleon.

Okay. So Yale the university is divided

into dormitories called residential

colleges and she is a dean with her

husband of this college called Silleon

and to her students she writes an email

and says that she didn't agree with the

university email. She says that a

university is a place for you to

explore, experiment

and make mistakes. So

yes, be sensitive

about the feelings of others,

but we trust you to make mistakes and to

recover from them. Okay.

So um the debate was essentially over

safe space versus free space. The

university said that safe space is

important. We must respect the feelings

of others.

But the dean of Sillein, her name is

Erica Kustakis. She believes the idea of

free space.

So a university is a place for debate,

for questioning, for experimentation.

And yes, feelings will be hurt. That's

part of the growing up process, the

intellectual process. So let me ask you

a question. Do you guys agree with

number one who argues for safe space or

number two Erica Kakus who argues for

free space? What do you think?

Can sorry can can you speak into the mic

please?

>> Of why do I

>> Yeah. Why do you believe number two is

cor number one and number two is

correct? Oh, because I think that

university is a place that you could

explore yourself, you know, jump out of

your comfort zone and try the things

that you never had experienced before.

>> Okay. Who disagrees? Who believes it's

more important to respect the feelings

of others?

>> And like if if the college prohibit

these on dressing that maybe be

offensive to other uh students. It's

just in the campus. If you like walk out

in the society, it still will have the

people like wants to uh dress maybe like

a panda or something. So, um I think

it's

I think it's like necessary to like to

um to

well

uh Yeah.

>> Okay. All right. Any other opinions? Any

other opinions?

Okay. So, you say we start the rules,

right?

I think I think it depends on who

decided. It feels like for myself I

think free space will be more important.

I need to explore what I want but for

being as a leader being as a head of the

college I think safe space will be more

important for them because they need to

take in control.

>> Okay. Right. But the problem is this is

a conflict. Right.

>> If the teachers care about safe space

you cannot have free space.

>> Mhm.

>> Right. So the question then is what do

you think in principle is more important

free space or safe space?

>> Safe space.

>> Okay.

>> Okay. All right. Okay. So yeah. So most

students believe safe space is more

important and this marks a generational

shift because when I was growing up

there's no debate. It was just assumed

that free space is more important

because if you're not allowed to make

mistakes, if you're not allowed to

explore, if you're not allowed to argue

with other people, if your feelings

don't get hurt, you will never grow as a

person. Okay? So, this marks a

generational divide or generational gap.

Okay. So, um

we're going to look at what happened

because of this debate. So, the students

who read the email were offended

that Erica Kristakus was arguing for

free space because they believed that by

doing this you're going to hurt our

feelings.

All right? And so, let's look at what

happened. And remember, this is Yale

University.

So what's happening is that

when Chris Nicholas Kristakis, the

husband of Erica Kristakis

went to a meeting, he was surrounded by

students

>> and they're confronting you. Okay,

there's like 100 students

racism here telling you that you are

being racist. You were being offensive.

You admitted that you hurt us. Why can't

you say sorry

hurt you? I'm sorry.

One at a time, please one at a time.

It's very easy for any trivial world of

mine to be misinterpreted. So, I'm one

at a time. I'm happy to speak to you as

much as you want. I can't speak as much

because I have other students that need

time as well. So, unfortunately, a

little bit.

>> Okay. So,

look, I'm not saying which side is

correct. Okay? Both sides have

legitimate points. Both sides have

problems. But you will notice that he

the professor, he's much older than the

students.

And the students are treating him, you

can see their faces, right? They're

treating him with some contempt

and that's not appropriate.

>> And when I was growing up, we didn't do

this.

>> If you didn't like a professor, you

thought, well, he's an And but

you know what? Most professors are

because they're professors.

Okay? You didn't you did not go and like

stalk the guy and complain to him.

That's kind of disrespectful.

All right. So the question then is why

is this happening? So I want to show you

another video.

And this video is kind of crazy.

introvertly learn.

>> Okay, this video

you understand that as your decision of

matter, it is your job to create a place

of comfort and home for the students

that live in Silus.

>> You have not done that. By sending out

that email, that goes against your

position as master. Do you understand

that?

>> No, I don't agree with that.

>> Then then why the did you accept

the position? because I have

>> Bob hired you.

>> Okay, so this is not appropriate. Okay,

again both sides have legitimate points,

but this is not appropriate, right?

Because what she's saying to him is you

work for us. Your job is to make us feel

at home. And his response is that my job

is to help you learn. My job is to help

you grow. And that means openness. That

means debate. That means pain. And her

response is, "I don't want that crap. I

want to feel good. I want to feel at

home. I don't be challenged."

And if you think about it, that defeats

the entire point of university.

So again, I'm not saying who's right. Um

I'm not saying who's wrong, but clearly

there's a problem here. And when I went

to Yale a long time ago, we didn't have

any of this. In fact, this sort of

incident where a student would curse a