| |
By the first week of April, Eden and Kors were doing everything possible to settle the
case quietly within the University. The provost, Michael Aiken, though bemused by the
thought that "water buffalo" could be considered racial harassment, referred the case
to the vice-provost for university life, Kim Morrisson, who referred it to Larry
Moneta, the associate vice-provost for university life, to whom the judicial system
reported. President Hackney referred the case to his assistant, Stephen Steinberg,
who e-mailed Kors about "your wholly appropriate concerns" about Read's decision,
emphasizing that "If after talking with Larry [Moneta], you feel things are not
satisfactorily resolved, please let me know, and I'd be happy to talk further...
Thanks for your patience." On April 13, another assistant to Sheldon Hackney,
explaining that the news had broken of Hackney's impending nomination as Chairman
of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and apologizing for the delay
in communication that this had caused, wrote: "Sheldon had also been occupied with
the latest breaking news, although I have briefed him on our latest conversation
....He did ask me to convey his appreciation for your concern about the University's
potential to become embroiled in a controversy that appears to offer little gain for
anyone." She added, "I would also like to thank you most sincerely for the deep
concern and willingness to act upon it that you have demonstrated throughout Eden's
case....Eden and others will remember you with gratitude and respect." The next
day, however, Moneta telephoned Kors not about "the possibility of progress," but
in order to quote from the Second College Edition of The American Heritage Dictionary,
which listed "Asia and Africa" as places where water buffalo might be found. That
evening, Steinberg called and said that guilt or innocence was for a hearing to
decide. With racial anger on one side of the balance and, on the other, one
frightened freshman and one eccentric professor, the administration had now
decided to prosecute Eden for shouting "water buffalo."
Two months later, testifying
before the U.S. Senate during his confirmation hearings for the Chairmanship of the
NEH, Sheldon Hackney proclaimed himself an enemy of speech codes: They were
"counterproductive," he told Senator Harris Wofford of Pennsylvania. One could
not get to civility by the wrong means, which he now described as "a speech code
backed up by penalties." Pressed about Penn's own code, Hackney said that,
although he now opposed such a code, it was nonetheless meant only to cover
face-to-face confrontations. Senator Edward Kennedy asked him directly if under
Penn's code, the water buffalo case, by then dismissed, should have occurred.
Hackney, discussing the case for the first time under oath, replied:
No. I think that this was a misapplication of that policy in the circumstances,
and, I think, a great mistake to try to pursue it, for several reasons. One, it was
not really a face-to-face encounter. The other is a matter of equity, if you will.
Eden Jacobowitz was only one of a group of people engaged in this activity, and
maybe the least culpable
one.16
Senator Kennedy asked Hackney to give the committee the "facts" of the water buffalo
case. On the issue of why Jacobowitz had been singled out, the nominee was quite
eloquent:
The only student who would admit to saying anything was Eden Jacobowitz, who said
that he had used the term "water buffalo," and had yelled at the sorority sisters,
who were singing, "If you want to have a party there is a zoo nearby." There in
fact is a zoo within about a mile of the university....Eden Jacobowitz is an
Israeli...and there is a Hebrew term, beheyma, which is frequently used among
people; it is a mild reproach, but used quite commonly. It sort of means, Oh,
you rude person....There is no other explanation that one can think
of.17
*****
Back To The Shadow University Home Page
shadowu@world.std.com
9/19/98
| |
