Hoax as truth

Hoax as truth. Why academics are idiots and we must be too because we let them indoctrinate our kids! That was the case last year at the University of Virginia, when a student falsely claimed campus police harassed him because he was black. After he was discovered, the student said he wanted to draw attention to “the topic of police misconduct.” But one should not discount these incidents, even if they are set up, some officials say. Regardless of whether a hate crime actually occurred, the fact that a student would feel compelled to fake one points to a whole other set of problems beyond just crisis response. “As an administrator, those are the kinds of things I’m really sensitive to – what are the students saying – because even if it’s not true, the perception is their reality,” said William L. Howard, assistant vice president of academic services at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. In other words, while a student’s method of calling attention to perceived prejudice may be flawed, that perception of prejudice still exists. “If you say, ‘This is not an issue on my campus,’ and a student has an experience that is counter to that, you have to listen to them.” Some positives can come out of a hoax, too. Cantwell said the incident at Trinity International opened up an important and helpful series of dialogues about race relations on campus, and provided an opportunity to evaluate the university’s emergency response procedures (they worked well). Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/07/31/hate-crime-hoaxes-present-burdens-lessons-college-campuses#ixzz22DPk204A Inside Higher Ed