Short Take: The Next President (of URI)

To non-lawyers, the threat of suing carries some inexplicable weight. Do this or we’ll sue, they exclaim. Lawyers shrug. Sue away, we think, because so what? Will that be the reaction of whoever is making decisions at the University of Rhode Island to the cries of their activist students?

“Some Black, White and Latino students shall join in another class action lawsuit if the next URI President is not an African-American with an ancestry to slavery,” read the list of demands put out by the Diversity Think Tank at the University of Rhode Island.

The complete list of demands spans 46 different points of contention over nearly 15,000 words.

“And, if anyone reading this asks why the next president of URI must be an African-American but has never questioned why URI has had 128-years of white presidents then you must be a racist,” it states.

The list is referred to as the group’s “Declaration of Diversity.”

To have complaints about the management of a university is hardly new. To make demands isn’t novel either, although these demands are rather extreme.

Aside from firing all the white people in management positions, what is the goal? They demand the URI hire a president with the following qualifications: “African-American with an ancestry to slavery.”

That URI has had white presidents throughout its 128 year history is unsurprising, and may well reflect a legacy of racism, whether in society or in the university itself. Heck, it’s Rhode Island, which has long been pretty white.

Even if the students are insufferably long-winded in their writing, and could use a damn fine scolding by E.B. White to edit out the pseudo-flowery gibberish from their leaden word salad, they need not be silent. They can complain to their hearts content, even if it would be far more effective if they could express their concern in a modestly intelligent and coherent way. But they can, and should, speak out.

But demand not merely a black president, but one with an ancestry of slavery, seems a bit limiting. Maybe there are brilliant, competent, wonderful individuals to run this university who would meet some of their criteria but not all. Would they be better off if they were excluded on the basis of race without the correct ancestry?

Then again, if URI does not do as they demand, they are going to sue. There are few ways to come off as more of a joke than that. Sue all you want. We’ll make more. If you want to persuade, then you’re going to have to do a whole lot better and think a whole lot harder. Or the current stewards of URI might just collapse in fear of bad press on twitter and let you have your way.