University of Arizona professor heckled at commencement for denouncing ethnic studies ban
Months ago, Sandra Soto was asked by her dean to be the faculty speaker at the graduation convocation last week for the University of Arizona's College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Soto didn't know it at the time, but her commencement speech would closely follow the adoption of two new Arizona laws. One gives the police more authority to question anyone they believe may be in the United States illegally -- powers that critics say will lead to widespread ethnic profiling. The other bars ethnic studies in the state's public elementary and secondary schools.
Soto, associate professor of gender and women's studies and a scholar of Latino literary theory, said that she thought it was her "responsibility" at such a time to use her 10-minute address to critique the new laws. The response -- captured on YouTube -- has set off a debate over civility and over the nature of speeches at graduation events.
She was booed, jeered and heckled, with a few shouting personal comments (shouting at her to cut her hair, for example, and calling her expletives). Soto held her ground, and while pausing at times, finished her talk -- with many applauding. Soto related her critiques of these state actions to graduation by talking about how their education should prepare them to be "better public citizens." (Soto's text for her talk may be found here.)
Since the talk, Soto said she has received a barrage of e-mail messages, many of them hateful and some of them potentially threatening. Many such messages have also been posted on YouTube and on local Web sites that covered the speech....
Read entire article at Inside Higher Ed
Soto, associate professor of gender and women's studies and a scholar of Latino literary theory, said that she thought it was her "responsibility" at such a time to use her 10-minute address to critique the new laws. The response -- captured on YouTube -- has set off a debate over civility and over the nature of speeches at graduation events.
She was booed, jeered and heckled, with a few shouting personal comments (shouting at her to cut her hair, for example, and calling her expletives). Soto held her ground, and while pausing at times, finished her talk -- with many applauding. Soto related her critiques of these state actions to graduation by talking about how their education should prepare them to be "better public citizens." (Soto's text for her talk may be found here.)
Since the talk, Soto said she has received a barrage of e-mail messages, many of them hateful and some of them potentially threatening. Many such messages have also been posted on YouTube and on local Web sites that covered the speech....