Campus Insider: Racist e-mail rocks Dartmouth campus

Re: The racist email. The writer says that he "did not intend to offend anyone."

Which then leads one to ask - what DID he intend?

Jim Kim is one of the brightest, most compassionate physicians I have had the pleasure to work with. He has worked tirelessly for those without a voice and has dedicated his life to improving the lives of others. What a shame that this email spoiled what should have been a shining moment in Dartmouth's history! I sincerely hope that the culprit is caught and is required to attend classes that deal with cultural diversity and tolerance for all.

That was an amazingly gracious and forgiving gesture of the new president of Dartmouth College! Although, why do I get the strange feeling Sam Yoon and goons are going to try to shamelessly capitalize on this event somehow? I know where the feeling comes from. Sam Yoon and his cronies try ALWAYS try to capitalize on our race.

Silber is standing up for Summers! Why am I not in the least bit surprised? Take some wake up pills Mr. Silber, Mr. Summers has ruined Brighton, not that Sam Yoon even knows where Brighton is.

Why is anything related to the investments of Hampshire college considered newsworthy material? It's called Camp Hemp for a reason.

Believe it or not, that email reflect a very large population in america. It doesn't matter if it's from an ivy league school. There shouldn't be any misgiving to americans that can't tell what country Mr Kim is from. It's not just americans who can't identify correctly the origin of things, billions of people around the world can't either, thats why the edudated is the .00001% population. China , if you're listening please send your educated kids away from America. It's time to fenced up, globalisation and the spread of information is less useful.

HURRY, another opportunity to be outraged at something that doesn't matter written by someone of no consequence, don't miss out MA.

Another attempt by the far left to keep racsim alive.

One idiot with a computer and a warped view of the world and/or sense of humor does not a racist society make

I think the racist email is a sobering reminder that even in our Ivy League schools, racism is alive and well. They are really no more "bastions of liberalism" than the corporate world they provide entree into. Wealth and privilege, and an elite education are no guarantee against racism. Racism against Asians, in particular, is one of the last "acceptable" forms of racism in America. Dr. Kim is a gracious man, Dartmouth should work harder to deserve a leader like him.

I am truly disappointed by the entire racist e-mail situation at Dartmouth. It angers me to think that the writer of the article said he "did not intend to offend anybody" when his words were malicious and very offensive. I am also disappointed in the reaction by the President. I understand the intent of Dr. Kim's willingness to pardon this student, but I think he is reinforcing the passive Asian stereotype by not taking a stronger stance that the writers' actions will not be tolerated. I think about other Asian Americans on the Dartmouth campus-faculty, staff, administrators, and students. Are they supposed to accept and pardon these thoughts and actions by members of their own community?

Wait a minute...the racist email writer from dartmouth “did not intend to offend anyone.” ? What?

much ado about nothing. people are mean. get used to it.

It looks as if the media has taken the bait. Let the outrage begin!

I'm so surprised that the e-mail came from a Dartmouth kid! Shame on him and his parents for NOT educating him better!! Dr. Kim is Korean-American, so first he writer is ignorant not to mention uneducated and not sure how he got into Dartmouth in teh first place. I jsut wonder if he would have sent the same frickin' e-mai lif it Dartmouth had appointed an African-American because Asian-Americans are easily picked on? Please. Ignorance need not apply to Ivy-leagues. It's a disgrace to the rest of us! As for the rest of the Americans, we just need to proof ourselves because America is a melting pot. Everyone one of us came from somewhere. The real Americans are the native Indians and we're the ones taking jobs from them!! My advise for Dr. Kim is to make an example out of this idiot student who is an adult (I'm assuming he's at least 18), and kick him out of Dartmouth!

It's embarrassing to be a graduate of a school like that.

These schools get what they deserve. They are big on political correctness and then penalize free thought and anyone who thinks differently then they do. Peter Pans everywhere on campus except perhaps the maintenance department. Grow up.

Why are we continuing this stupidity? I'm not saying racism doesn't exist, but one email from some stupid kid doesn't mean we have an entire racist society. Why do we keep perpetuating this? No other civilized country has the racial unrest we do. Do you know why they do not in Europe? Because they don't print sensational articles such as this and don't allow people to use racial fodder as a crutch.

As a Dartmouth alum, I have to confess that I read the quoted email with disgust but absolutely no surprise. There is an entire right-wing culture up there (which spawned the likes of Ann Coulter) that considers itself so supremely oppressed as to have earned the right to make deliberately ignorant and inflammatory statements about women, gays, Jews, minorities, liberals and anyone else that they happen to find distasteful. Make no mistake: the author of this email is fully aware that Dr. Kim is Korean, not Chinese; the "they all look the same to us" attitude is part of the intended insult. These are the same people who printed Mein Kampf in the Dartmouth Review and tore down an anti-Apartheid display. They intend to offend!

The quotes from the "racist" e-mail seemed to me like an article from The Onion. It's satire and very obviously so. I'm sure the author knows Kim isn't a "Chinaman."

The ultra-sensitive need to get a sense of humor, or at least keep things in perspective. There's no rational explanation for how a joke sent out by a single student could possibly ruin Kim's moment.

I don't see anything wrong with the email. Last time I checked we live in a free country with free speech. People can say whatever they want regardless of who they defend.

I think that student's name should be publicized so that when he looks for a job his missive comes up on the first google.

I find that the ones who complain the most about having opportunities stolen from them are the ones who have squandered their lives the most.

The article said is was a "satirical" bulletin. If you look up satire in the dictionary it reads: "a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn." So probably the writer was saying the exact opposite of what he felt in order to highlight the silliness of such sentiments. These kinds of statirical statements are always taken literally by people who don't understand what satire is supposed to be about.

Hmmm. Apparently, Dartmouth students are not uniformly a "cut above" after all. While not in the same vile category, Timothy Geithner, despite his super-charged resume, is not very impressive either.

Was that racist email ever meant to be serious? I would laugh at it because it seems like a joke from The Onion. If it was serious that person is a psycho and there is no hope for them.

It doesn't surprise me-I worked at Harvard hospital as a doctor and racism is alive and well. Being a minority, I was subjected to extremely humilating public confrontations by a white male faculty member who couldn't handle non Caucasian women. Believe me they only want their sons, and possibly daughters in positions of power, money and success- anyone else is seen as beneath them and unworthy of being in the same room as them. That's why Harvard has legacy. I am sure they break out in panic knowing we have a black president

After a close reading of this article isn't it clear the author of the e-mail is being sarcastic. The author of this article describes the listserv on which the e-mail was posted as "a daily satirical campus listserv." Which means the e-mail was meant to be more like the Onion than the Washington Post. Other evidence that the author had a sarcastic intent is that he describes the conditions in which the President of Dartmouth works as "substandard conditions at near-subsistent wage.'' I'm sure that's not true. If anything, isn't the author of the e-mail noting the recent trend of minorities taking over premeir positions (e.g., Obama) or rather making fun of protectionist xenophobes in this time of economic uncertainty. You people need to read more closely. Though I think it's irresponsible of the author of this article not to make clearer the possibility the author intended to be sarcastic

Why is it when a Caucasian criticizes another ethnic group, the liberals in this state think the world is coming to an end yet when Muslims attack Christianity or when Homosexuals attack Heterosexuals and their belief structure, it's ok in the eyes of these liberals? The liberal double standard is sickening!!!

"a racist e-mail sent out over a daily satirical campus listserv"

Dictionary:
sat⋅ire   –noun 1. the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.
2. a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.
3. a literary genre comprising such composition.

What exactly is the issue? Have we become so PC that we cannot teach or allow someone in college to use a very accepted form of speach?

1. It is so typical of the print (online) media, left wing academia and the left in general. This is a non - story, I only read it so I could back up my point. One idiot makes an email that is "racist" and it is front page news? Hardly.
Hey globe lets right a story about your hero "The President" spending more than any other President in History and it has only been 2 months into his Presidency. Or about the WSJ article about how 50% of the voting population will not have to pay taxes in the immediate future so they don't care about the spending.
Now that is news
Keep up the left agenda while we all become the one nation under the Federal Gov

Great Job

Note that the comment was on a "satirical campus listserv" -- clearly, calling a university president "an immigrant willing to work in substandard conditions" is meant as satire, in the vein of The Onion, Family Guy, South Park, etc. OK, maybe it went too far, but it was clearly meant as a parody of racism, not a statement to be taken seriously.

however i feel that this is racist nation, i am even for disgusted with Darthmouth's apology. I really do NOT want censorship. i WANT americans to express THEIR UGLY RACIAL THOUGHTS. I DO NOT WANT THEM TO HIDE THEIR VIEWS. AND MOST OF ALL, I DO NOT WANT TO EXPERIENCE FURTHER HYPOCRISY FROM THIS NATION THAT IT IS TOLERANT! therefore, i hope my feelings are share by every liberal and conservative editors in this nation.

however i feel that this is racist nation, i am even more disgusted with Darthmouth's apology. I really do NOT want censorship. i WANT americans to express THEIR UGLY RACIAL THOUGHTS. I DO NOT WANT THEM TO HIDE THEIR VIEWS. AND MOST OF ALL, I DO NOT WANT TO EXPERIENCE FURTHER HYPOCRISY FROM THIS NATION THAT IT IS TOLERANT! therefore, i hope my feelings are share by every liberal and conservative editors in this nation.

It was a satirical post. I doubt the kid's a racist, why come forth and apologize if he is? Probably just de-sensitized from growing up on Conan and SNL.

I think it was a very poor choice to distribute this email as a mass mailing, but there is something to be said for satire. Maybe I'm just a jerk, but I laughed out loud reading it. I found it to take as many jabs at ignorant Americans at least as much as it did Asians. But hey, not much offends me.

I would like to see the entire email. I see nothing "Racist" yet....the only thing i see is what the media has brainwashed you all into thinking what "Racist" is.
Unless this email says that he wants to do away with all races other than his own, I call it friendly fire.
Wake up people and grow some, you've all become so sensitive and nieve, that you cant even look at yourself in the mirror and see anything write because of someone Else's influence on you......

If you don't think racism is alive and well, then you are sorely mistaken. Sadly, I have unmistakenly encountered it in the last week in my professional life and in my (distant) family life. I am white, and I don't represent the far left.

The unfortunate event at Dartmouth verifies the low aptitude of Dartmouth students. Despite being an "honorable member" of the Ivy League, its students are definitely not of the intellectual caliber of students at Cornell, Columbia, Brown, or MIT. They're probably George W. Bush-type legacies with high amounts in trust funds and low IQ scores.

This is just part of the "melting pot". Some day when our children are all one color they will never be exposed to the word "RACISM".

I am so sick of all the sensitive do gooders out there.

Is there any pride in who you are? Just be!

Once upon a time there was a place called United States of America where the people had freedom and a constitution. Why is it if someone gives their opinion of course under the "right to expression" or the "Free speech" that there are others who insist that that person can not SPEAK? When this happens I am offended so should the commenters on this post now be forced to take sensitivity classes? Since when is the minority the ruler? Is not this a society of DEMOCRACY? What we have in society now is the tiranny of the minority!!!!

More proof that an expensive Ivy-league education is no substitute for common sense.

This may be hard for people to believe but as a Dartmouth student I would know. The GGM frequently sends out satire and that email was just a bad attempt at it. It wasn't a deliberate racist email and furthermore I think the guy who wrote it has an Asian girl friend. Just thought people should know and I'd also like to mention that its sad the Boston Globe would exaggerate and mislead its readers by making something stupid into something much more serious.

Juveniles and editors that can't spot a racist comment? He/she says that he/she didn't intend to offend anyone. How the heck did he get accepted into an Ivy League school? Was he/she in the upper social/economic class that gave him a free pass to attend this prestigious college? What was the intention of the words he/she used? Was it the lack of English skills? Plead ignorance or tell me what that person's major is .. BA in Basket Weaving from Dartmouth College?

And this Korean American probably did work in a rice bowl restaurant to pay for his education while the "emailer" probably suck up to his/her parents and ouble dipping the emailer's grandparents just to pay for alcohol , weed, bongs and rolling papers.

And even Craig's List do a better job of screening then the editors.

Once upon a tyme their was a Constitution and I had freedom of speech. Now I am offensive by sum of the comments on this board. Why does the minorities have writes that I don't?

All the doo gooders have ruined our skools.
That's why their are checks imbalances in our sistem, to protect the rights of the MAJORITY. Look it up.

Wow. It's surprising how heated some of these responses are, considering none have read the e-mail in its full context and entirety. The writer apologized for the e-mail, describing it as a "crass attempt at hyperbolic satire," which is exactly what it was. The e-mail was part of a tongue-in-cheek, satiric newsletter e-mailed to subscribed students.

To all who defend "freedom of speech",
You have a responsibility when you open your mouth, that includes flossing.
To all who defend the "Constitution" , that piece of washed out toilet paper did not represent america well over the course of 300yrs. If anything it was a satirical document.Today we have an adolescent who spend his youth in an affordable college like Darthmouth with this great economy. you feel fortunate to be writing such satirical things. How many of you here have made it to Darthmouth? Oh and welcome to the globalisation, that means you should open your mouth less when you know less, because you said Mr Kim is from China.

If this racist e-mail is written by a Dartmouth student, one would start questioning the kind of liberal education of Dartmouth has had on his students over the years! Rather than concentrating on who wrote the letter, perhaps the quality of the faculties and the education orientation need to be reassessed.

Once upon a tyme their was the KKK and I hath a dream speech. Me no offended at all by the comment. Me tell myself its the reality of America society....Watch out they're building a gas chamber for all non-white people out there.

Jim Kim is a MacArthur Genius and one of the smartest doctors in the world, as well as a former high school quarterback who grew up in Iowa. Having been on top of the world for the past 15 years, I doubt that some freshman saying "Dartmouth is America, not Panda Garden Rice Village Restaurant" means anything to him.

So, someone should write a satirical email about poor white trash etc and put it on the list serv at Dartmouth and call it a day? If any white students get offended then maybe everyone will realize how easy it is to read/misread a writer's intentions.

In this day and age, you'd have to be a moron to think information doesn't spread and get interpreted/misinterpreted many times over.

I wonder if any of the commenters here have ever actually been to Korea.

More than thirty years ago, during the Vietnam War, I was stationed in South Korea -- part of our occupation forces left over from the Korean War. The end result of my service was that I became very pro-Korean. I suspect that Dr. Kim, like most Koreans, is very pro-American. Like them, he is probably grateful for the more than 100,000 American soldiers -- mostly the type of people who U.S. academics today would call "racists" and "warmongers" -- who were killed or wounded in a war which spared South Korea the ravages of Marxism. I never went into a mud-floored straw hut that didn't feature a "shrine" to Gen. MacArthur.

However, despite their gratitude, the Koreans found plenty of reason to be racist towards Americans, whether it was our funny looks, our outlandish manners, or even -- because of drastic dietary differences -- our smell. After I learned the Korean language, I often feigned ignorance so the Koreans would speak freely around me. That's when I learned that even the "nice Koreans" were capable of some very racist remarks. I recall once when I was talking with this farmer -- and he knew I understood him -- he was using language that clearly indicated that on the totem pole of human existence, he placed me somewhere between him and his water buffalo. I smiled, wondering if he failed to notice that between the two of us, I was the only one carrying an M-16. The urban Koreans were usually more careful, more politically correct, but once they became convinced that you could not understand them, the racial barbs came out. I didn't mind; after all, the American soldiers made their own racial remarks about Koreans -- about THEIR funny looks, THEIR outlandish habits, and THEIR funny smell.

Do not know why anyone is surprised by the statements made in the e-mail. Go to the website of anti-immigration groups such as the Federation of American Immigration Reform, Center for Immigration Studies or Numbers USA or listen to people such as Ron Hira, an Indian American professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology...they make similar statements all the time. In fact Professor Hira made similar statements without any racial slurs after Bank of America rescinded job offers made to foreign born MBAs. Many white Americans do not want entitlements when it benefits another group, ie., blacks of Hispanics. However, by the same token they want to have entitlements based on nationality. Nothing new there!

The posts here are quite amusing. Many people, normally who have NEVER experienced racism in its many covert forms, are quick to say racism is perpuated by those who speak against it. Actually, it is prepuated by those who write these kinds of emails and letters. I am a Latino woman who has experienced racism in very subtle forms and YES, I HAVE and WILL CONTINUE to acknowledge it the moment I feel it and see it. Period. If you don't want to be called out when you say something racist, or excuse me, that can be "easily misinterpreted," then the solution is simple: DON'T SAY IT.

"It wasn't a deliberate racist email and furthermore I think the guy who wrote it has an Asian girl friend."
Oh, the guy has yellow fever, so he must not be racist! Right. That's the best excuse I've heard yet, right along the lines of "I have a black friend and a gay friend! I'm not _____, I swear!"

Why is this still a the sidebar #2 story a month later? Can this sophomoric, insensitive, and offensive attempt at sarcasm possibly be the second most important story of the past 30 days? Is the Globe not editing sidebars, or is there some editorial statement at work in letting this dangle here for so long?

Is this the editorial rigor we we can expect when the Globe folds as a daily print edition?

I think those in power should use the total resources of the Patriot Act to find out whom it was that perpetrated this obviously unpopular email. After the expenditure of several millions of dollars we probably will have to borrow from the Chinese, the perp should be tried, found guilty of something and sentenced to either Gitmo or a Chinese prison (his choice and I bet he chooses Gitmo) and then have his GED withdrawn. Next problem...

Satire loses a lot of its effectiveness when you have to put a big label on it that says "ATTENTION MORONS: THIS IS A JOKE."

I'm okay with a bunch of Ivy League stuffed shirts not having any sense of humor, but is it absolutely necessary to inflict your rigidity on the rest of the nation?

Racial slurs are not jokes. You people who claim that those who are angry over this have no sense of humor are obviously white heterosexual men, if you understand my meaning. Yes, I agree about freedom of speech. So let the author publish his name and stand by his words.