The Spreading Virus, Part 6

A reader at the University of Nebraska passes along this campus-wide email:

Subject: From Chancellor Perlman re: Social media disclaimer

A screen capture of a Facebook exchange has been circulating on social media, and as common as that is, in this particular case it warrants this note.

In this exchange, one person, whose name is listed as Joey Simpson, uses derogatory and racist language. Another person asks:  “Aren’t you affiliated with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln?”

The answer is no. No one named Joey Simpson is a student, faculty member or on the staff of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Further, we condemn the use of such language in any forum as it only serves to communicate disrespect.

This is an opportune time to remind all in the university community that you can share matters that you feel need to be elevated or addressed via the TIPS Incident Reporting System. A link to TIPS appears in the footer of every page on the UNL website.

Harvey

Harvey Perlman, Chancellor

Also, this:

Clarion University forced to cancel play over actors’ race

Student actors and the stage crew at Clarion University arrived Tuesday evening for one of the final rehearsals before next week’s campus opening of “Jesus in India” only to learn the off-Broadway production they had spent months on had been canceled.

The reason they were given was race: theirs.

Three of the five characters in the production are Indian, but on the mostly white state university campus, two of those characters were to be played by white student actors and a third was being portrayed by a mixed-race student.

Lloyd Suh, the playwright, told the university through his literary agent Monday that he was uncomfortable with any notion that he supported Caucasians portraying Indian characters in his play, said Bob Levy, chairman of the visual and performing arts department at Clarion.

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