Cornell is hiring a dean of students whose job it will be to promote diversity on campus and protect the delicate sensibilities of Cornell’s next crop of Ivy League social justice warriors.
So far, though, the interview process isn’t going particularly well for one top candidate, Vijay Pendakur, who held a “diversity townhall” with students to persuade them to support his candidacy. He hit all the right notes at first, stressing social justice as a “marathon and not a sprint,” committing to elevating the dialogue on “campus inclusion” and making “trans-inclusion” a formative part of his tenure.
And then, he dared to say that he’d consider all students when making decisions as the dean of students. “If I say, ‘The dean’s area of focus is diversity and inclusion,’ the unspoken thought in response often is, ‘Oh, so he’s here for only the marginalized students,'” he told the crowd. “So we need to undo that, because that is a deeply problematic framework. If we’re going to make progress, it needs to be everyone’s conversation.”
Obviously, that was the wrong answer. And while it was merely one sentence in an otherwise perfectly SJW appeal, the school’s “vice president for diversity of inclusion” was immediately scandalized.
“I’d like to hear more on how that kind of approach and philosophy still puts the concerns of minority students, students of color, underrepresented students, LGBTQ-identifying students and students with disabilities at the forefront,” Julia Montejo told the student newspaper. “Underrepresented students feel really afraid to speak up and oftentimes those with more privilege in the room are more likely to take up more vocal and physical space.”
Pendakur made a bold attempt to recover, pointing out that a dean of students has to care for and represent an entire collegiate body, but the damage was already done. It’s highly unlikely Pendakur will make it much farther in the process.
Cornell has become a premiere social justice school in the last several years, introducing classes in “Advancing Social Justice” as well as a campus “Social Justice Program” that ensures Cornell’s social justice warriors have a voice in campus administration and are involved in official school policy (it’s currently hiring a program coordinator).
Last year, the school held a “social justice art event” with one artist who compared the Republican Party to the Taliban, and another who depicted the GOP elephant sexually assaulting a woman.
