It was a fairly simple matter of letting students know that even though the weather outside was frightful, school was open for business as usual. You’d think that would have ended matters…but then you’d be underestimating the depths to which today’s college students are capable of descending to.
Yes, the weather sucked; of that there was no argument. With air temperatures around 0, and wind chills in the -20s, no one was going to be planting palm trees. Still, this is central Illinois we’re talking about- not exactly Siberia, but certainly a region with more than a passing familiarity with winter. The idea that the University of Illinois campus would be open as usual isn’t something that seems like it would be seen as controversial. And yet….
Some students didn’t take kindly to the idea that they wouldn’t be getting a snow day. Actually, it was something far more offensive than not taking kindly to the idea. The response was as childish and immature as it was racist and offensive. Using the Twitter hashtag #FuckPhyllis, the very public reaction begin as merely mean-spirited and quickly escalated to aggression directed at Chancellor Phyllis Wise, who just happens to be of Asian descent. Predictably, the abuse directed at Wise on Twitter quickly turned virulently racist.
Rather than dignify such monstrously poor behavior with a blow by blow recitation (you can see it for yourself if you’re interested), I’d rather focus on how and why supposed well-educated young people felt no compunction in engaging in virulently racist behavior on Twitter. I understand that the Internet offers what some see as the immunity of anonymity, but the tone of the attacks on Wise is truly disgusting.
Yes, there were a number of students and alumni that pushed back against the abuse directed at Wise (to their credit), but what I find most disturbing is that such a reaction to a relatively benign event even occurred. These are young people pursuing a college education in a community that by all indications is reasonably diverse. Yet they saw nothing wrong with directing vile personal insults, some distressingly racist, at someone merely doing their job.
THESE are the future captains of government and industry? No wonder I fear for our future.
