Teh One Who Knocks
02-27-2016, 01:24 PM
Bethany Salgado, Texas Campus Correspondent - Campus Reform
http://i.imgur.com/jZbHtc3.jpg
The “house master” title at Harvard University will soon be tossed out because it “causes discomfort” for its alleged connection to slavery.
“My understanding is that the general feeling has been that the title causes discomfort, both for those serving as House masters and for many of our students,” Danoff Dean of Harvard College told the Harvard Gazette. “It doesn’t fully communicate the responsibilities of the role and how it has evolved.”
Khurana explained that using the word at an American institution, a nation with a dark history of racial discrimination and slavery, adds “significance to the term that we can’t easily dismiss by focusing narrowly on its classical roots.”
The word “master,” according to some Harvard deans, is similar to historical terms like “school master” and “headmaster,” which were used at medieval universities in Europe. All these uses of the word originate from the Latin word “magister,” a title for scholars or professors.
“I don’t have this association when I congratulate a student on attaining a master of arts or on the mastery of a subject,” said Michael Smith, Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
Despite Smith’s best efforts to defend the title, an uprising of student protests swayed the administration’s decision the other way.
“Faculty dean” will become the university’s new title for the 24 staff members who reside in and lead residential housing communities on campus.
Harvard joins its Ivy League counterpart Yale University, which also scrapped the title last fall.
In addition, Harvard Law School is considering changing the school’s official seal for similar reasons. The seal contains the coat of arms of Isaac Royall, a Harvard donor who established the university’s first professorship in law and helped endow the college, but who had a reputation as a brutal slave owner in the 18th Century. The BBC reported that students planned to protest the seal by participating in a sit-in to be held this week.
http://i.imgur.com/jZbHtc3.jpg
The “house master” title at Harvard University will soon be tossed out because it “causes discomfort” for its alleged connection to slavery.
“My understanding is that the general feeling has been that the title causes discomfort, both for those serving as House masters and for many of our students,” Danoff Dean of Harvard College told the Harvard Gazette. “It doesn’t fully communicate the responsibilities of the role and how it has evolved.”
Khurana explained that using the word at an American institution, a nation with a dark history of racial discrimination and slavery, adds “significance to the term that we can’t easily dismiss by focusing narrowly on its classical roots.”
The word “master,” according to some Harvard deans, is similar to historical terms like “school master” and “headmaster,” which were used at medieval universities in Europe. All these uses of the word originate from the Latin word “magister,” a title for scholars or professors.
“I don’t have this association when I congratulate a student on attaining a master of arts or on the mastery of a subject,” said Michael Smith, Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
Despite Smith’s best efforts to defend the title, an uprising of student protests swayed the administration’s decision the other way.
“Faculty dean” will become the university’s new title for the 24 staff members who reside in and lead residential housing communities on campus.
Harvard joins its Ivy League counterpart Yale University, which also scrapped the title last fall.
In addition, Harvard Law School is considering changing the school’s official seal for similar reasons. The seal contains the coat of arms of Isaac Royall, a Harvard donor who established the university’s first professorship in law and helped endow the college, but who had a reputation as a brutal slave owner in the 18th Century. The BBC reported that students planned to protest the seal by participating in a sit-in to be held this week.