Editorial
Letter to the Hamilton Community: Crossed Wires
February 25, 2016
Tags letter to the editor
We participated in a facilitated conversation following the publication of letters to The Spectator by Professors Maurice Isserman and Nigel Westmaas (see 11 & 18 February Letters to the Editor). Each presented his perspective and experience of the “exchange” which then enabled us to identify the main misunderstandings and the underlying intentions of respective letter-writers. The Spectator’s framing of Isserman’s letter (“Professor Isserman’s letter is in response to concerns over criticisms of two of his colleagues on the faculty.”) set in motion unintended consequences. Isserman was not attacking students and Westmaas was not calling Isserman a racist when he referred to Isserman and “white privilege.” It was agreed that an open scholarly dialogue about race and campus race relations is an important event to be organized as soon as possible.
Maurice Isserman and Nigel Westmaas
Margo Okazawa-Rey and Lisa Trivedi, facilitators