By: Malcolm Kelner
In a recent wave of protests on campus, hundreds of Emerson students have called on the administration to mandate cultural competency and sensitivity training classes for professors and students.
These students hope such classes would improve an environment in and out of the classroom that black and other minority students have continually found to be hostile and unwelcome.
Now at last, the Emerson administration has responded with a bold new initiative to remedy the situation: All students and faculty will be required to watch the 1995 comedy film, “Friday.”
“We hear you all loud and clear,” read the Andy Tiedemann mass e-mail which announced the ambitious and groundbreaking plan.
“We’re not as diverse or culturally supportive as we claim to be, and that’s a problem. Therefore, after careful consideration by an administration task force, we have decided that all students and faculty must become culturally educated by watching the classic and transcendent Ice Cube and Chris Tucker buddy comedy, “Friday.”
“The climate for students of color here is not a good one. However, that will rapidly start to change once everyone is able to kick back and laugh along at the hijinks of lovable slackers Craig Jones and Smokey in their quest to pay their dealer by the end of the day.”
The e-mail also outlined the implementation of the initiative, in which students and faculty must select one of ten screenings of the film in the Cutler Majestic Theater to attend. On the way out, everyone will check their name off a list to certify their cultural training is complete.
At press time, the task force was considering another film to add to the required viewing slate, “Nacho Libre.”
Lion's Tooth 