The Gum

Some of my Grinnellian friends might remember when I got involved in a minor controversy on campus regarding a satirical piece in The Gum. The Gum is the campus satire rag, for those who do not know, and the piece I'm referring to had to do with a picture of some students sitting on a sofa in the middle of the soccer field, all alone, when they were supposed to be having a rally. The group in question is known as A.S.I.A., Asian (and Asian-American) Students in Alliance. The group charged the editors with racism, going so far as to rip out the offending page, write RACIST over the picture in orange marker, and post the pages all over campus. I wrote a letter to the editor where I defended the piece as satire, and since I was a student of color, I think my explanation as to why I didn't find racist intent in the piece to be convincing to some section of campus-at-large. (Even the professor of Intro to Shakespeare, a course I failed miserably, wrote me an email, thanking me for my thoughts on the subject.)

Now, if the editors had done something like this, I think I would have lodged complaints on the group's side.

An article in the annual joke issue of Princeton University’s student newspaper has left some readers accusing its staff of racism.

The Daily Princetonian issue included a column with a byline that closely resembles the name of Jian Li, an 18-year-old Asian man who filed a civil rights complaint against the university last summer after he was denied admission.

Li, who now attends Yale University, told The Associated Press on Saturday that his complaint against Princeton accusing the school of bias against Asian students remains under investigation.

[...] Under a byline of Lian Ji, the article published Wednesday used broken English and spouted racial stereotypes to bash the school for his rejection.

“Hi Princeton! Remember me? I so good at math and science. Perfect 2400 SAT score. Ring Bells?” the article begins. “Just in case, let me refresh your memories. I the super smart Asian. Princeton the super dumb college, not accept me.”

The article ran with a disclaimer informing readers that it was part of the joke issue, but that didn’t stop students and alumni of the Ivy League school from accusing those who wrote it of racism.

“I consider myself an easygoing person, but guys — this article doesn’t even try to use humor to hide the underlying hate,” Andre Liu, who identified himself as a 1991 graduate, wrote in a letter to the editor.