Voice of Consciousness

Yesterday was a good day for many reasons. Today, reality reminded me of my marginality. Yesterday, the Chronicle issued an apology for its role in the sensationalization of right-wing treatments of race, ethnicity, diversity, and marginalization. They have dismissed Schaefer Riley from the Chronicle's Brainstorm blogosphere because they: ...now agree that Ms. Riley’s blog posting did not meet The Chronicle’s basic editorial standards for reporting and fairness in opinion articles. They also admit that their positivistic response to the concerned readers of the Chronicle amounted to giving Schaefer Riley's politicizing ideology validity in an open debate forum. Since Brainstorm was created five years ago, we have sought out bloggers representing a range of intellectual and political views, and we have allowed them broad freedom in topics and approach. As part of that freedom, Brainstorm writers were able to post independently; Ms. Riley’s post was not review...

This blog is a call to attention and solidarity. Has anyone considered boycotting the Chronicle of Higher Education? The Chronicle is feeding off of the sensationalizing effects of racially-tinged arguments. Their response is opportunistic and irresponsible. I reject the invitation to have a positivistic debate about the validity of Black Studies. The grounds for this position are multiple, including the hollow grounds of Schaefer Riley's original position, the dismissive nature of Schaefer Riley's reply, and the noncommittal response of the editorial staff of the Chronicle of Higher Education. There is bias present against the existence of Black Studies, and fields like it. The bias is institutionalized through blogs like Schaefer Riley's and through the deployment of positivistic arguments about debate used by the Chronicle's editorial staff. Given that the Chronicle is benefitting from our concern in terms of web traffic, I wonder whether the best response is no...