by b_b

So I was having a conversation with Mindwolf and thenewgreen earlier about crime in Detroit, and we got on the subject of the proportionate rate of crime committed by blacks. I have heard that it is much higher than the 80% of population that blacks represent, so it may be difficult for a police officer to not engage in implicit or explicit profiling. However, I didn't want to just throw out there what I heard, so I searched for some hard numbers on racial demographics and crime. I couldn't find any good results (even though I know they're out there), but I did find this. My jaw hit the floor when I read it, not because its racist drivel, but because of who the author is. Chris Kobus is a professor of mechanical engineering at Oakland University, and I took many classes from him as an undergrad. In fact, he is quite a good and knowledgeable instructor.

So I am struck with a dilemma. My gut instinct tells me to email the head of the ME department and the Dean of Engineering to alert them to this piece, because I don't think a representative of my alma mater should be saying things like

"Just for background, we now live in a time when in Democrat-run urban environments like Philadelphia and Chicago, packs of wild black youth are rampaging through society looking for white folk to rob or hurt."

I heard a black comedian (Donald Glover) recently do a bit about how the most racist thing he ever heard was Mel Gibson telling his ex that he hope she gets "raped by a pack of niggers". He went on to say that it had nothing to do with the racial epithet, but the reference to a pack, and it would be equally racist to say a "pack of African-Americans", the word "pack" usually being associated with wild animal like wolves or hyenas.

On the other hand, of course, is the protection of speech, of which I am an unwavering advocate. Does this supersede his very public position as a professor at a public university? Race, its association with crime, and its portrayal in the media are legitimate debates that we shy away from too much. I think it should be talked about more. But when you use racist language to do so, you're 1) delegitimizing the debate, because the other side can just point out you're a racist, and 2) you are automatically betraying your ulterior motivation, namely that you don't want a debate, you just want to show how rotten blacks are.

Having a tenure track position in a public university is very rare and prestigious for academics these days. When you take one, you should be aware that you're becoming part of the face of the university for which you work. In fact, you are the university, along with the students and administrators. Therefore, engaging in speech like this debases the university, its students and all its alumni, in my opinion. That much I'm convinced of, but that still doesn't help me in deciding whether I should alert OU to this post. What do all of you think? As a citizen he obviously enjoys free speech, but does that give him the right as a public employee to engage in racist speech without consequence? Or is it even racist to begin with? Maybe I'm reading too much into the race side and not enough into the media side, which is really what his blog is about.

I am interested in outsider perspective and fellow OU alumni alike. steve, mk, are you guys offended as former OU students? What about the rest of you?