Would a trigger warning before showing 1965 Othello film have saved this professor?

[Anonymous]

Is there a path for redemption for him? If so, how must be atone?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2021/10/university-of-michigan-professor-steps-down-from-class-after-blackface-incident.html%3foutputType=amp

“The controversy surrounds Sheng’s showing the 1965 movie Othello on Sept. 10 to his undergraduate music composition seminar class. The film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play stars Laurence Olivier as the title character of the Moorish King, and features Olivier in blackface.”

[Anonymous]

He is a two-time Pulitzer nominee and a recipient of a MacArthur fellowship. And he has to leave the university for showing an Oscar nominated film. The university should defend him. Instead they’re too scared of accusations of racism to support their own scholars.

[Anonymous]

Unless the teacher also wore blackface before showing the movie, this is stupid.

[Anonymous]

He should have addressed and acknowledge it. He shouldn't have been fired.

[Anonymous]

Insane. And I’m completely against black face. Would they also ban English books that mention slavery?

[Anonymous]

??? There must be more to this insane story.

[Anonymous]

But if he had said this film is a story about race written in the 1600s(?) filmed in a different era that was not as sensitive to blackface depictions as today … or something much more polished than i can cobble together … would he still be in hot water? Is this on the unofficial banner shows/books like like the Cosby show?

[Anonymous]

I hope by "trigger warning" you mean "a thorough and open discussion about both the merits and the failures of the work, and an invitation that those who do not wish to view it may leave with absolutely no consequence to their attendance or grade."

A lot of context, discussion, and a clear communication that viewing it/staying in class while it played was not mandatory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He should have addressed and acknowledge it. He shouldn't have been fired.

I think he did. He wasn't defiant.

[Anonymous]

This is McCarthyism now, pure and simple. Only coming from the left instead of the right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:??? There must be more to this insane story.

The linked article is from the university press.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He should have addressed and acknowledge it. He shouldn't have been fired.

I think he did. He wasn't defiant.

That is true according to the article. The top PP didn’t bother to read the short article linked in the OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is McCarthyism now, pure and simple. Only coming from the left instead of the right.

I'm a lefty, and don't know anyone who would do this to such a professor.

I don't know WHO makes these stupid decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He should have addressed and acknowledge it. He shouldn't have been fired.

He did address it. It's not clear he was fired, it says he's stopped teaching the course. Perhaps it was decided, for the benefit of the students, to put in a new teacher for the semester so they could focus on learning the material and not on the incident? Who knows.

I think he responded appropriately. I also wonder if he had addressed this in advance but then gave a reason why this particular film could address the music lesson he was trying to teach. At a minimum, this is a lesson to him (and others) to think twice about course material. Perhaps there is another film that could teach the same message. And in showing that other film, he could mention this Olivier film is another great music example for students who are interested but that he stopped showing it in class because Olivier is in blackface.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is McCarthyism now, pure and simple. Only coming from the left instead of the right.

I'm a lefty, and don't know anyone who would do this to such a professor.

I don't know WHO makes these stupid decisions.

Middle aged people are learning that they do not fit the definition of liberal by today’s standards. A recent DCUM thread called the Clinton presidency conservative.

My concern is that this professor and others like him don’t seem to have a way to redeem himself. It’s a one and done deal.