Anita Varma Senior Editor

More than 250 students, faculty, and administrators gathered in the Villard Room on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. for a forum hosted by MICA about the content of The Imperialist. Administrators present included Dean of the Faculty Ron Sharp, Dean of the College JJ Jackson, Associate Dean of the College Raymon Parker, Residential Life Director Luis Inoa, and others.

Chair of the Judicial Board Jacob Schiffrin ’07 facilitated the forum. He laid out ground rules suggested by the Office of Campus Life and noted that speakers would be limited to three minutes each.

MICA President Matt Ambrose ’07 gave an opening statement and said, “We would like to facilitate that dialogue not to a productive end, but to a productive beginning.”
Marc Gottlieb ’07 was the first student speaker. “I’m a little disappointed with how everyone has reacted to this situation,” said Gottlieb. “It confuses me about why this can’t be taken as a big misunderstanding.”

Several students noted that they appreciated the presence of a conservative voice on campus, but believed that MICA was perpetuating racism in The Imperialist, not conservatism.
“I…appreciate the conservative voice,” said Dana Fitchett ’06. “In aligning themselves with racism, the conservatives here are silencing themselves.”
MICA member Paul Brown ’08 noted that members of MICA had been cast as racist by many students on campus. “The term racism has been thrown around a lot and I haven’t said anything, except that I’m a member of MICA,” said Brown.

Students debated the idea that conservatives are marginalized in the same way as students of color. Several concerned students spoke against this view.

MICA Treasurer Cara Grieco ’08 said that she did not feel safe as a conservative on campus. “As a conservative on this campus, I’ve come face to face with a number of students who say they don’t want me here,” she said. “If we’re talking about everyone being safe, I hope that that would include me too.”

Victor Ray ’07 responded, “Conservative is a choice, race is not. You choose your political views. When someone sees your skin color and makes a decision about you, that’s not a choice.”

Andrew Block ’06 said that students needed to be cognizant of the racial aspect of spaces on campus. “If the ALANA Center is a safe space for students of color, then we have to realize that the rest of the campus is a white space.”

Not all students agreed that MICA was to blame for an environment on campus in which people did not feel safe.

“I can’t blame specifically MICA because we’ve created such a hostile environment for white people,” said John Santos ’07. “It’s kind of hard to swallow that we’re still equating white space [with an unsafe] space for colored people.”
Schiffrin urged students to stick to the ground rules of not yelling or exceeding three- minute statements. The forum ended promptly at 9 p.m.

After the forum, Ambrose said he was pleased with the dialogue, and reiterated that it was a useful starting point. “I thought it went well,” he said. “A lot of people were given the opportunity to express themselves. It was a good start.”