Haters

Even though social networking sites have been around for years now, students still remain unaware of the repercussions of posting hateful messages on Facebook and Twitter. Six years after four Syracuse University students were reprimanded for creating a Facebook page criticizing a teaching assistant, at least one Ohio State University student is facing the consequences for racist tweets. 

As an Ohio State graduate and a Chinese American, the tweets made me furious, since several of them are directed specifically at Asians. Racism is intensely complicated for me because most people wouldn't consider me a "real Asian" since I speak English "properly" and was born in America. Still, I get questions like “Where are you from?” and even after I insist that I was born and raised in Maryland, I get the follow up question, “Where are your people from?” For me, those questions are offensive, but in light of the Ohio State tweets, they pale in comparison.

After noticing numerous racists tweets, students created a tumblr (OSU Haters) so people could report offensive tweets that they saw, which eventually lead to administration taking action against one student posting on Twitter and a conversation on racism in the university community. Even though the administration took action, what lessons did the student posting the racist tweets really learn? Will the dialogue at Ohio State really have a lasting effect on the community? or is this another issue that we'll face again in a few years in a different form? 

  

While the Ohio State tweets have started a conversation, it will probably be intensely difficult to alter or educate diversity and tolerance. Is it my job as an educator to bring up this dialogue with my students? Richard Miller’s “Fault Lines in the Contact Zone” addresses the difficulties in confronting students as an educator. Is there really a right way to go about it? Avoiding discussing racism doesn’t remove it but will I really be able to educate if I go about it the wrong way? Miller points to examples where issues have been discussed in the classroom, but nearly 20 years later, have the tactics changed?

The OSU Haters tumblr is definitely a step in addressing racism in the university community, and the idea is spreading to other universities. As a teacher, I do have the ability to bring up the issue to my students, but if it starts with race issues, will it lead to gender issues, social classes, politics? I only have one semester.