opinion

Backlash to 'Whiteness' class caused by ASU's weakness

Back in January, Arizona State University assistant professor Lee Bebout was condemned on TV and ravaged over the Internet with threats and e-mails over a course he taught called "U.S. Race Theory & the Problem of Whiteness."

The university responded with timidness, fearfulness and slowness.

A tepid statement of support was issued, but it was not match for the Fox News commentators who picked up on the class, turned it into something it wasn't and unleashed their ill-informed hounds on Bebout. This angry collection of critics included White-supremacist groups and a wide range of anonymous Internet harassers.

Fliers were distributed on campus and in Bebout's neighborhood with "Anti-White" printed over a photo of Bebout (who is White).

Now, according to an article by The Arizona Republic's Kaila White, a statement has been issued in support of Bebout and condemning the behavior of some of those critics.

It was signed by James Rund, an ASU administrator who oversees student services at all four ASU campuses, Jake Bennett, director of the Anti-Defamation League in Arizona, along with representatives from ASU Undergraduate Student Government, ASU Police, Hillel ASU, Tempe Interfaith and about 20 others.

It begins: "There have been a series of hate speech incidents over recent weeks in Tempe and Mesa, orchestrated by Neo-Nazi groups and hate preachers. Some of the incidents included anti-Black, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT and anti-Muslim speech and intimidation. This behavior and these sentiments do not reflect the values of our community."

Likewise, ASU President Michael Crow came to the defense of the professor by way of an interview published in the State Press, ASU's student newspaper,

"The professor was not attempting to be derogatory toward any group or any race," Crow said. "He was trying to look at the literary concept of an idea of race described by color. That's the kind of course we should be teaching."

He's right.

It's too bad that the venue in which Crow chose to make this statement over the 'whiteness' class perpetuated the feebleness of the university's response.

If this is the kind of course that ASU "should be teaching," as Crow said, why wasn't there a big, high-profile show of support for Bebout back in January.

(By the way, there were a grand total of 18 students enrolled in this course when Fox and others decided to transform it into a national outrage.)

A while back Anita Levy, with the American Association of University Professors, told the Republic, "This professor (Bebout), whether or not he gets tenure, is going to think twice and thrice about what he teaches next time."

I wouldn't blame him.

A solid, in-your-face response to unwarranted or uninformed criticism would have had President Crow standing side by side with Bebout in front of TV cameras months ago.

The harangued teacher needed a show of strength right from the beginning. He needed the university to have his back.

Instead, ASU has matched the strong negative response to Bebout's class on 'Whiteness' ... with weakness.