The George Washington University Way: Brand Something Racist, Ask Questions Later

My alma mater came under fire over the weekend when the Chinese political cartoonist Badiucao posted an email sent from George Washington University’s president Mark S. Wrighton. In the email, in response to the Chinese Students and Scholars Association, Wrighton said that he was “personally offended” by cartoon posters displayed on campus portraying Chinese Communist Party atrocities, and he vowed to remove the posters and determine who was responsible for hanging them.

After the email blew up on Twitter, Wrighton backtracked and apologized. He released this new statement:

The new statement is indeed a welcome change, but it is also revealing — and not in a good way. Wrighton writes that when the posters were initially flagged, “without more context on the origin or intent of the posters, I responded hastily to the student, writing that I, too, was concerned. University staff also responded to ensure the posters were removed.” He later adds that, “Upon full understanding, I do not view these posters as racist; they are political statements. There is no university investigation underway, and the university will not take any action against the students who displayed the posters.”

What this shows is that the university’s default reaction was to assume something was racist and offensive. Rather than look into the context and origin of the posters from the outset, the president waited for a storm of criticism in the other direction to actually understand anything about the posters.

So, good that in this case, the university backtracked and Wrighton is owning up to his mistake. But it also says something about the the broken due process at GWU when it comes to complaints about “offensive” speech.