From: jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy)
Subject: Welcome to Freshman "Disorientation"
Reply-To: jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
Date: 4 Jan 93 00:19:47

UCRA/MEASURE 111, December 1992

Not many faculty members, let alone the parents of students, know what
goes on these days under the rubric of "Freshmen" Orientation. The
story below, reprinted with permission from the October 5, 1992 issue
of The Stanford Review provides an immensely informative but deeply
disturbing account.

University administrations which instigate intellectual and emotional
segregation within their student bodies should not be surprised by
the unprecedented degre e of group hostility encountered these days on
many American campuses.  As the old saying goes, "Whoever sows the
wind is bound to reap the whirlwind." The report echoes with minor
variations what is happening at the majority of US public and private
colleges and universities.
       _______________________________________________

              WELCOME TO FRESHMEN 'DISORIENTATION'
                         Brady Mickelson

Memorial Auditorium darkened. A hush fell over the entire freshman class. Having
 been at Stanford for a mere three days, this was to be our greatly
anticipatedi ntroduction to its diverse student population--a program
entitled "Faces of the Community." This was it--Stanford, live and in
living color!

The curtain rose to strains of popular music, emanating from a barrage
of techno logy at the rear of the stage. The music took a metallic
edge as its African-Ame rican performer launched into magnificent
guitar solo. Then, as the song headed to its conclusion, sirens began
to wail, and dialogue replaced the music. Sudden ly, the singer was no
longer upright. Falling to the floor, he writhed in convul sions in
reenactment of the Rodney King beating.

Welcome to Orientation at Stanford.

This week used to be a time when starry-eyed freshmen, like myself,
found their way around campus, bought a few hundred dollars worth of
books, and fought bouts of homesickness. Those days are long gone.
Now, orientation is a political battleground where only the
politically correct survive.

After learning that Rodney King was a "face" in our community, we
frosh were greeted by a young woman who, as a freshman troubled by
depression and anxiety, discovered that she was a lesbian (or, in her
words, queer). She explained how "free and relieved" she felt after
declaring her queerness to her dormmates. After relating her
struggles as a queer in today's world, she counseled us to "overcome
our fears of being queer" and to question our own sexuality, rather
than to be influenced by the opinions of society. She closed her
remarks by commenting on how she had overcome her fears about being
queer to the point that she was able to declare her status to an
audience of 1500 people. She retired to great applause. Welcome to
Orientation at Stanford.

The next face in the community was a faculty member. Professor James
Adams, head of the VTSS CIV track, led us on a literal safari. He
prefaced his remarks with the comment that "orientation is designed to
disorient you." Then the fun began . Dividing us into groups by last
names, he asked that we assume the voice of an animal--G through L, an
ape; M through S, a seal, etc. Then, on his cue, we made our animal's
sound at the tops of our lungs. The resulting cacophony was likened
to our lives as members of the Stanford community: "By the time you
leave Stanford, you should be completely disoriented," declared
Adams. Welcome to Disorientation at Stanford.

Despite the discombobulating effect of this freshmen "orientation
program," we did learn the one theme that was consistently presented
that evening: the affirmation of differences. According to the
speaker, we should not be satisfied with merely accepting diversity
in our community, but should also strive to create distinctions among
groups. We were encouraged to embrace labels of color, sex, and
ancestry that best described us, and then to glorify that label to the
point that we exclude those who are not "one of us." Though an
appearance was made by a token white male (speaking as a victimized
fraternity member), the program was geared to indoctrinate, rather
than orient; to label and divide along stereotypical lines, not
explain and unite a diverse student body.

The most interesting aspect of the evening was that many of the
students who fit into a label hadn't realized their oppressed (or for
white males, oppressor) state until they were "oriented" to it. In
this, Res Ed office created division where there had previously been
voluntary harmony of cultures. People who were once color-blind or
sex-blind or whatever-blind were forced to segregate again. Labels
that had been discarded by this generation were recycled for us by the
grace of Res Ed. Score one for the "multicultural" agenda.
________________________________________ Brady Mickelson is an
undeclared freshman.  ##
--
John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
*
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.

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