GWP ... GWP Not

I just discovered that my initials, GWP, stand for Guilty White People ... see: Dartblog Posting. The author of this snippet on race relations at Dartmouth, Joe Asch, a man whom I respect for his continued attempts to keep our alma mater from sinking into the current cultural swamp, therein makes a poignant point. And that is that the constant acceding to the whining wished of Hanover's people of color does them no service. In fact it is condescending to create new deans and departments as a token (albeit expensive) show of diversity sensitivity and inclusive symbolism when one is unwilling to engage in open debate regarding the real reasons for their feelings of inferiority. Endorsing these feelings is, ironically, an affirmation of this GWP prejudice. Mr. Asch expresses it better than I can when he writes:

Just why is it that at an institution ostensibly devoted to learning, nobody from President Hanlon on down is willing to debate the charges thrown at the College. What a sorry, cowed bunch of leaders we have. But they are more than cowed; in point of fact, they are condescending to students of color in not engaging them in any kind of principled debate about the merits of the charges that they hurl at Dartmouth. Does the administration think that these kids are too stupid, too uneducated, too fragile, to withstand an argument that puts forward disagreement with their narrative of Concentration Camp Dartmouth?

Wouldn't it be nice to see the kind of open forum that a liberal arts education promises? Needless to say, much as I wish those famous "character content" words of Martin Luther King to be finally realized, I do not qualify as a guilty white person.