Fun Home - A University Controversy

[Mlle. Zabzie]

Duke University (my alma mater, which I love fiercely and deeply) assigned all its incoming Freshman Alison Blechdel's graphic novel Fun Home as summer reading. Very embarrassingly, an entitled little snot of an incoming freshman (I'm trying not to tell you how I really feel) has started a controversy, originally on facebook, that has been picked up by first the student newspaper, The Chronicle and now by national news (I'm having problems posting links for some reason, but a quick google search of Fun Home and Duke will tell you what you need to know).  I'm putting this in Gen Chat rather than in Lit because I think the interesting thing isn't the graphic novel on its merits (I haven't read it, but now I will) but rather the "controversy" itself - what it says about students (IMO - those complaining are entitled and closed minded and don't deserve to be at one of the best universities in the country); what it says about higher learning institutions (IMO the fact that they felt comfortable posting this at all shows the gradual commoditization of higher learning in the US - I hope Duke sticks to its guns here); what, if anything, should happen to the students in question (IMO - they should fail any assignment connected with the book in question).

 

Also, should I submit an op ed to the student paper something like an edited version of the following?

 

Dear Duke Freshmen Complaining about Fun Home:

 

Get over yourselves, and do it quickly.  You and your parents aren't paying an enormous sum of money every year to have every one of your preconceived notions reaffirmed.  You haven't braved August in North Carolina, tramping up stairs lugging shower caddies and new twin XL comforters to be comfortable (I did this 20 years ago today; it was my birthday; it sucked).  You've come to learn.  Part of learning is reading and engaging with material that you may not agree with and that may make you uncomfortable.  Deal with it, and grow up.  If you "do" college correctly, you will have some of the things that you know, with absolute certainty right this short second torn down and built back up again in another form.  You will also have other things reaffirmed, solidified and supported.  You will learn how to think critically - to question assumptions and support opinions.  These are important life skills that (I promise) you will need in the workforce.  You can't do this while remaining in willful ignorance of other viewpoints, hiding behind a smokescreen of (however truly held) religious beliefs or potential personal offense.  Be offended!  Please do, but make sure you know what you are being offended by.  Otherwise, I sincerely hope that you fail any evaluation connected with this assignment (perhaps for the first time ever in your academic career).  Note that the failing grade won't be a mark of martyrdom, but rather the natural consequence of a failure to engage with assigned material.  So please, stop embarrassing your alumni body.  Have a wonderful time at Duke and go Blue Devils!

 

Forever Duke,

 

Zabs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tempra]

Did the book come with the requisite trigger warning?

My understanding is that Fun Home was part of an optional reading list given to all incoming freshman. Since optional is optional, the students should not be punished. However, these students are entitled, closed minded, and narcissistic. If they want to be a bigots or prudes, fine, they should shut up and do so their own as no one cares.

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

My freshman reading assignment was a biography of Dmitri Shostakovich. I think maybe half the fresh even tried reading it. I got about three fourths of the way through.

 

I think there have always been lazy, entitled, self important*, idiotic, drunken undergrads. Social media just makes it easy to turn these things into a new MORAL PANIC.

 

* A girl in my freshmen writing seminar, in front of the whole class, asked the professor if she could add more personal style to her papers, since she like to write like Shakespeare

[all swedes are racist]

So these students refuse to read Fun Home because it will "compromise [their] personal Christian moral beliefs", yet chose to attend a University whose mascot is a blue devil?

[kairparavel]

So these students refuse to read Fun Home because it will "compromise [their] personal Christian moral beliefs", yet chose to attend a University whose mascot is a blue devil?

Praise God. Win basketball championships.

[.H.]

So these students refuse to read Fun Home because it will "compromise [their] personal Christian moral beliefs", yet chose to attend a University whose mascot is a blue devil?

We all know that Satan is nothing compared to people of the same gender who have entered into a mutually consensual sexual relationship.

Do you even Bible, bro?

[Mlle. Zabzie]

Amen, Kair, amen.

 

So apparently it wasn't mandatory (when I went it was - our first assignment in the mandatory Freshman Writing Seminar was based on the summer reading), but that makes the complaints even more ridiculous. The point stands that there will be controversial reading.  While dated, I can imagine that the same person might have a problem with Edward Said's Orientalism (which was required reading in a class that was a requirement for a History degree way back when) or any number of novels in literature classes, or like, anything, discussed in a public policy class.  I could imagine that even science/biology classes could be difficult.  I mean, there might be boobs shown.

 

I'm mainly just p.o'd that Duke is in the news because of a poor admittance decision like that.  Hope the kid doesn't go to law school (though I'm sure he will).

[Iskaral Pust]

The Atlantic has an article/op-ed currently about the coddling of the American mind. It feels like PC liberal avoidance of offense could be just as intellectually restrictive as authoritarian dogma was. We've even had some threads here where PC jackboots stomped on discussions to save precious sensibilities.

It seems like a very tough time to be in the vocation of education. I almost typed "business of education" but actually it's a very good time for that.

[Mlle. Zabzie]

Isk - I read that article and tend to agree with it.  There continues to be some sort of misconception that American institutions of higher learning are or should be trade schools selling a commodity (ie, an education).  And some schools are going that direction - at least in terms of commoditizing the student experience.  And, given the price tag, students feel entitled to get what they want out of the experience, which in turn seems (unsurprisingly) to be the ability remain unchallenged.  This is sad, because critical thinking does not develop in an echo chamber of like thinking.

[Tears of Lys]

I love your letter, Zabs. Send it.

What's the harm? And someone may even read it and stop to think. Probably not, but there's always that chance.

[Inigima]

This seems pretty straightforward, doesn't it? The book is part of the assigned curriculum, and if they won't do it they can receive a zero for any related assignments or discussions.

[Eyelesbarrow]

Apparently the student complained about sexual themes and the use of nudity. Isn't this like half of  what The Bible is all about? 

[davos]

There are a number of conservative Christian Universities and Colleges in the United States. If the individual in question was so concerned about being exposed to material that would be offensive to their faith they could have chosen to attend one of these institutions. They instead chose to atend a secular University where they knew that they and their family had to know that they almost certainly would be presented with material as part of their education that would be highly uncomfortable to those who hold to a narrow Evangelical Christian worldview. This is yet another example of conservative a Christians seeking opportunity to impose their beliefs on everyone else. All that we are missing is the claims of being persecuted when others object or the University doesn't comply with their demands (and I suspect this will come)

[Fragile Bird]

I love your letter as well, and I think you should send it in.

[NestorMakhnosLovechild]

I can only imagine how many gigabytes of porn these sensitive incoming freshman have viewed in the past month to be so offended by little hand-drawn lady boobies. I am quite sure that none of them will be engaged in underage drinking (except of course for the blood Christ) or pre-marital sexytime shenanigans.

 

But seriously - I think we need to dispense with the notion that merely reading about something that you happen to disagree constitutes some offense against your faith. Craig Thompson wrote a wonderful autobiographical novel called "Blankets."  Seriously, it's amazing. Go read it. In it, Thompson recounts an incident where he was sexually molested by an older boy. I am obviously opposed to child molestation. But I am not offended merely because I viewed a depiction of an act that is morally objectionable. Merely viewing a depiction of something - something that actually happened, as it were - is not offensive merely because I am opposed to the act. 

[TerraPrime]

The shift towards seeing college as a first-step job training center and less as a place for intellectual growth has been going on for at least a decade or more. This comes as a consequence of who's paying more of the bill to go to school. While Duke itself is a private school, it is still in the larger higher ed landscape. The mentality of seeing college education more like a customer service issue is now common and accepted. In this cultural context, it is not surprising at all that students and their parents will feel mistreated when asked to step outside of their comfort zone.

[Swordfish]

 

 

But seriously - I think we need to dispense with the notion that merely reading about something that you happen to disagree constitutes some offense against your faith. Craig Thompson wrote a wonderful autobiographical novel called "Blankets."  Seriously, it's amazing. Go read it. In it, Thompson recounts an incident where he was sexually molested by an older boy. I am obviously opposed to child molestation. But I am not offended merely because I viewed a depiction of an act that is morally objectionable. Merely viewing a depiction of something - something that actually happened, as it were - is not offensive merely because I am opposed to the act. 

 

Modified for general applicability.

 

There are plenty of examples out there of people objecting to those types of depictions in assigned curriculum for fairly spurious reasons that have nothing to do with religion.

 

At the very least it would likely be required to have some ridiculous trigger warning attached to it.

[Fez]

Fucking micro-agressions. 

 

Seems I only barely avoided all this nonsense, finishing college when I did.

[TerraPrime]

Micro-aggressions are not nonsense.

 

Sometimes, the concept might have been applied overly broadly. But then, so have words like "Christians" and "capitalism."

[litechick]

But in the Bible, Jesus forbids his followers from exposing themselves to anything pornographic. “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” he says in Matthew 5:28-29. “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away.” This theme is reiterated by Paul who warns, “flee from sexual immorality.”

 

 

 

It sounds like his complaint is that seeing these images gives him a very Un-Christian boner.  The argument seems to be that in viewing the novel he is looking lustfully at these cartoon women and is therefore a sinner against his will.  His solution is to not look at the images but I wonder if he has considered just not looking at them lustfully. 

 

This seems to go hand in hand with other ways in which people think women should cover up so that men don't behave badly.