Perhaps they honestly thought that, as they claimed, they were simply offering advice about preserving his reputation. Had this promptly been conveyed to the complainants, the problem might have evaporated.Ĭosgrove and Eldik purported to believe him but nonetheless pressured him to apologize and composed a suggested email. Colbert made clear that he hadn’t known the racial coding of “trap house,” and didn’t even select the menu. The term “basic bitch” originated in rap music.Īll this was a horrible coincidence. In New Haven, the Popeye’s closest to Yale is at the dividing line between "Yale" New Haven and the Black New Haven that Yale students often avoid. Fried chicken is a frequent feature of those parties. The students who complained were entitled to be concerned. Ruth Marcus of The Washington Post thought their complaints revealed “a grievance culture in which every slight, real or perceived, is greeted with outsize demands for disciplinary consequences.” But there is a long history of white college students holding parties that ridicule Black culture. Two points particularly need clarification: the basis of the initial complaints, and the meaning of “racism.” This has been a weird dialogue of the deaf, a farce of incomprehension. The episode has received plenty of negative coverage, including in an earlier article of mine.
Associate Dean Ellen Cosgrove and diversity director Yaseen Eldik responded by summoning Colbert to a meeting, which he recorded, pressuring him to publicly apologize and denouncing him when he didn’t. The school’s Office of Student Affairs received nine complaints. The invitation was almost instantly screenshotted and shared to an online forum for law students.
RADIO SILENCE URBAN DICTIONARY CRACK
“Trap house” originally referred to crack houses in poor neighborhoods, but, according to Urban Dictionary, “has since been abused by high school students who like to pretend they're cool by drinking their mom's beer together and saying they're part of a ‘traphouse.’” The invitation promised “Popeye’s chicken, basic-bitch-American-themed snacks (like apple pie etc.)” and hard and soft drinks. “We will be christening our very own (soon to be) world-renowned NALSA Trap House … by throwing a Constitution Day Bash in collaboration with FedSoc," he wrote. Trent Colbert, a Yale Law student who belongs to the Native American Law Students Association (he’s part Cherokee) and the conservative Federalist Society, invited classmates to an event cohosted by both groups. A recent episode at Yale Law School, in which administrators disastrously mishandled a discrimination complaint, shows how today’s culture wars are sometimes fueled by mutual misunderstanding - sometimes even about the meaning of words.