Celebrating Diversity, Political Correctness, Zero-Tolerance, blah blah blah....

In the politically correct world of academe, common sense and reason have long been cast aside in lieu of the egalitarian philosophy of multi-culturalism. Here in the D/FW community, specifically, the University of Texas at Arlington, the latest episode of inanity occurred at the Hall of Flags.

University President James D. Spaniolo recently sent an email to the students of UTA regarding a decision he made regarding the flags on display which honor the students attending the university...a celebration of diversity, as it were. Here is the email:

May 10, 2006

Dear Students,

The University of Texas at Arlington’s Hall of Flags was established to celebrate the diversity of the engineering school’s student body. These flags were not intended to endorse the politics or policies of any nation. As part of this display, the Vietnamese Heritage and Freedom Flag represented our Vietnamese-American students and the flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam represented our international students from Vietnam.

Recently, a heated controversy emerged when Vietnamese-American students and their community strongly protested the flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, viewing it as a political symbol.

As a result, I have removed all 123 flags from the Hall of Flags. A cooling off period is needed for thoughtful reflection. In the fall I will establish a committee to explore alternative means to celebrate the diversity of our student body.

Our ultimate goal remains fostering a strong sense of community among all our students, including all our international students. We must never forget that a public university is a special institution that respects all individuals and embraces diversity.
Sincerely,

James D. Spaniolo, President

That seems to be the PC formula for everything, these days. If one person is offended, then everyone must be dealt with equally, thereby offending everyone! Of course, this is unreasonable and bereft of common sense, but then we're dealing with a college administrator.

My son responded to President Spaniolo with this letter:

President Spaniolo,

You have taken the easiest and most politically-correct way out of this situation possible. You could have taught a much better lesson to those on both sides of the issue by removing both of their flags. The South Vietnamese would have gotten their demands, but would have realized what it's like to have no flag and the situation would have probably resolved itself after that. Even if you had done absolutely nothing, the situation would have blown over with time. Just two weeks ago you confirmed in the Shorthorn (UTA's newspaper) that “The university will continue to display both the Heritage flag and the Vietnamese national flag in the Hall of Flags…”. So why hasn’t it happened that way?

Instead, you have gone back on your word and punished everyone who hails from anywhere! Just because a group of individuals has decided to take offense to something does not mean that everyone should be punished. I don't eat pork or any of its derivatives, but that doesn't mean that it should be removed from the cafeteria!

The most offensive thing to me, however, is that, for whatever reason, you have also taken down our American and Texas flags along with all of these other nations' flags. This is our country and state, and the flags should be displayed without question, even if all others are removed. There is absolutely no reason to lump ours in the same category with other flags. This is not the United Nations where all nations are represented equally... This is the United States and this is Texas and it is an absolute privilege for other nations' flags to even be displayed near ours. Our nation and state flags should be flown by default because, even at the most basic level, they remind us of where we are geographically. On a deeper level they remind us all as Americans and Texans of our heritage, who we are, and what we stand for. They are just flags, but both should always remain prominently displayed.

If you are going to concede to the illogical, emotionally based demands of a small group of students, then only remove the international flags. The American and Texas flags are not inflammatory or controversial, and anyone who believes that they are should probably not be here in the first place. There is no question that they should be in the Hall of Flags.

Please restore our nation and state’s flags to their previous locations.

Thank you.

Respectfully,

Justin Glasgow
Student Congress Engineering Senator