Intellectual Debate at Reed

College: Are Students Afraid to

Speak?
Hum110 Survey Results and Analysis
Laura Swann (Class of 2019)
You should know my biases and assumpAons:
About Me:
My name is Laura Swann. I came to Reed College in part because the Hum110 course
sounded amazing. I love and admire Greco-Roman thought.
I am a 29 year old non-tradiJonal student. I am a veteran.
My father immigrated from Syria and was brown. My mother is white. I pass for white and
was raised in a very white/Western cultural environment.
I believe:
That the current protests deal with dicult, emoJonal, and serious issues such as:
America and the Wests shameful history of enslavement, oppression, and exploitaJon.
InsJtuJonalized racism.
Whether Western foundaJonal texts are worth studying, and the proper way to study them.
The purpose of higher educaJon and the purpose of Hum110 as a course.
That we need to have a very serious discussion on all these issues as they pertain to Reed.
That the only way to change anyones mind is through dialogue in which all par&es feel free
to express their thoughts and argue their point.
Why Create A Survey?
IniJally, I created a Facebook page for open discussion on Hum110 and the
protests in general.
I got no public responses, but did receive private responses from people who
wanted to parJcipate but who were afraid to do so:
The facebook group you've made has been made as publicly available for pro-oriented people as con,
however those on the criJcal side will conJnue to be afraid to actually say anything in fear that they will
be labeled racist or anJ-progressive by their peers. I'm not saying I know how to x the problem, I just
wanted to make sure you know why (in my opinion) the page hasn't taken o. To use a personal
example last night I had a whole thing wriZen to post on the page and ended up deleJng it because I
realized it wasn't worth the risk of having basically 80% of my social circle vilify me for my opinion on an
honestly relaJvely minor issue.
I think part of the reason people aren't speaking up is because of their race (which I think is ridiculous).
You could call me a "person of color" but what these protesters have represented and done is
completely misrepresentaJve of who I am. I'm coming into this as a "POC" but I disagree with everything
they've been saying for a long Jme and from what happened today in lecture, it feels as if it isn't safe
for anyone to express anything that goes against what they're saying which is not okay. Please let me
know if you plan on having in person discussions with others who feel this way because personally I
would much rather do that than online debaJng.
Aaer receiving these and similar responses, I created an anonymous survey to
gauge the climate surrounding discussions of the HUM110 protests.
The Survey Itself
Five quesJons gauged the respondents posiJon on the Hum110 Protests:
What is your current opinion of the Hum110 curriculum?
What do you think about the ongoing protests of Hum110 lectures?
What is your opinion on the events of Wednesday's lecture with Lucia MarJnez?
What is your opinion on the events of the Friday lecture with Marat Grinberg?
*Do you believe that any argument in favor of Hum110 is inherently racist and/or white
supremacist?
With the excepJon of the *asterisked quesJon, all responses had a write-in
other opJon so that no one would feel like they had to make an inaccurate
choice.

You can view the survey (and the possible responses) at: hZps://goo.gl/zanSz
The Survey Itself
Four quesJons gauged the respondents level of comfort with expressing their views:
How well do you feel your views are being represented and heard right now?

What forums would you be interested in for discussing these ideas?

*How comfortable do you feel engaging in dialogue on issues surrounding Hum110 at Reed right now?

Would your decision to parJcipate in this survey, or your answers to any of the quesJons above, have changed
if this survey was not anonymous?

These quesJons (except for the *asterisked quesJon) did NOT have an other opJon.
The nal two quesJons were paragraph responses:
If you were the author of this form, what other quesJons would you have asked?

Any nal thoughts?

As of 10:00 AM on Sunday, November 6th, 82 people have responded.
Of 109 total responses, 21 were blank, 4 were double-submissions, and 2 were test responses by
me.
Obvious Flaws with this Design:
Because the survey was completely anonymous, respondents could answer
as many Jmes as they wanted.
Anyone with the link could respond: It is possible that some of the
responders may not have been freshman or even Reedies.
I distributed the URL only to Freshmen and students in Hum110 in an aZempt to
miJgate this issue.
Because I have a subjecJve posiJon, these quesJons may have been biased
and poorly worded.
Not everyone responded to this survey. Self-selecJon bias for students who
felt they were not being heard and/or who disagreed with the protest may be
in play here.

You can view the survey (and the possible responses) at: hZps://goo.gl/zanSz
RaAng The Responses
I used the rst ve quesJons to generate a Dierence RaJng to measure the proximity of the respondents opinions to
the opinions of the protesters.
For each quesJon, a score of 0 represented opinions in line with the protesters ideas, with scores increasing to 3 or 4: completely
opposed to the protesters ideas.
Example: for QuesJon 1: What is your current opinion of the Hum110 curriculum?

Response Ra&ng
The curriculum is racist and white supremacist, and needs to be completely overhauled 0
Some aspects of the curriculum are problemaJc, but not all of it 1
Honestly, I'm not sure. This is a complicated issue.* 1
I like parts of the Hum110 curriculum, and would like to see minor changes at most 2
I love the Hum110 curriculum and do not want to see any change 3
I'd like more informaJon before making a choice* 1
*Note: Nearly every quesJon had at least one its complicated opJon. If a respondent marked this answer for only one quesJon, I
treated this answer as middle ground and rated it a 1. For respondents who answered this way for 2 or more quesJons, I analyzed
their posiJon as general uncertainty/ambivalence and did not use their response in my analysis.
Manually RaAng Write-In Responses
Four of the ve dierence raJng quesJons contained a write-in opJon. I scored
those manually to the best of my ability. For example:
Write-in response Ra&ng Why?
People's opinions need to be held
0 This is ambiguous by itself, but their nal thoughts secJon
claries: This survey doesn't give a full picture & suggests that
everyone's feedback on a protest is important. This echoes a
senJment expressed by the protesters. Their other responses
were clearly and consistently in favor of the protesters posiJons,
and I felt reasonably condent raJng their dierence 0.
I wish we could return the curriculum to it's Greco-
Roman form; the reason being a year is a short Jme and
3 Pupng more Greco-Roman texts into Hum110 is even more
extreme than my most extreme opJon for this quesJon (I love
being too inclusive would reduce the course quality Hum110 and do not want to see any change). 3 was the largest
possible dierence raJng for this quesJon.
hum 110 certainly has problems but the magnitude of
said problems is intensied if you think the course is a
N/A This posiJon is very unclear. Not coded, and this respondents
answers were not used in my overall analysis.
huge deal. while it is adverJsed as the most important
class for freshman personally i don't care that much
about it, and thus the way that i view the racist
implicaJons of the curriculum is not as major as other
people's
Results:
65 of the 82 respondents could be rated based on this system.
The remaining 17 were either incomplete or wrote in ambiguous answers.
The minimum distance raJng possible was 0
Respondents with a 0 raJng were in complete
agreement with the protesters posiJons and
acJons on all quesJons.
Number of Respondents per
The maximum distance raJng possible was 14 Distance Ra&ng
Respondents with a 14 raJng held posiJons very

Number of respondents
far from those of the protesters. 7 7 7
6

Most people fell between these two extremes: 5 5 5 5

agreeing with some of the protesters posiJons, 3 3 3 3

but not others. 2 2 2

The dip in the middle suggests that most

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
respondents have a clear, if moderate, opinion on Distance Ra&ng
this issue.
Afraid to Speak Their Mind?
One of the quesJons was: Would your decision to What if the Survey Hadn't Been Anonymous?
par&cipate in this survey, or your answers to any of 8

the ques&ons above, have changed if this survey 7

was not anonymous? 6

Respondents moderately opposing the goals and 5

tac&cs of RAR (with distance raJngs of 8-12) were 4

most likely to answer yesin other words, their 3

response would have changed if the survey had 2

connected their names to their response. 1

0
Overall, 47.6% of the answers would have changed 0 1 2 3
More aligned with protesters.
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

meaning almost half the students answering this

Less aligned with protesters.
Answers would have stayed the same Answers would have changed

survey were afraid to aZach their name to their

opinion.
Afraid to Speak Their Mind?
One of the quesJons was: What forums would you Students Interested in an Anonymous
be interested in for discussing these ideas? Forum:
Once again, we see that respondents moderately
opposing the goals and tac&cs of RAR (with distance

Number of Students Interested

6
raJngs of 8-11), were most likely to want an 5
anonymous forum. 4

2 2 2 2
1 0 1 1 1 1 0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
more aligned with protesters Distance Ra&ng Less aligned with protesters
Afraid to Speak Their Mind?
The survey also asked respondents:
How well do you feel your views are being And, How comfortable do you feel engaging in dialogue
represented and heard right now? on issues surrounding Hum110 at Reed right now?
How Listened-To Respondents Felt: How Comfortable Respondents Felt
8 Expressing an Opinion:
7
8
6 7
5 6
4 5
3 4
2 3
1 2
0 1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 0
Distance Ra&ng 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
More aligned with protesters. Less aligned with protesters. Distance Ra&ng
More aligned with protesters. Less aligned with protesters.
Heard Somewhat Heard Not Heard
Comfortable Mostly Comfortable Somewhat Uncomfortable Uncomfortable

The larger the distance raJng (and the less aligned with the protesters), the more likely the respondent to feel
uncomfortable expressing an opinion and not heard within the conversaJon.
No respondent with a distance ra&ng higher than 5 feels listened to at Reed right now. No one with a distance
ra&ng higher than 4 feels completely comfortable expressing an opinion.
What would we have missed?
The nal quesJons in this survey were long-paragraph responses. Here are some
of the thoughts from respondents who claimed their answers would have
changed if the survey had not been anonymousopinions we might not be
hearing:

I don't think that the vocabulary used in the protest contributes to a construcJve dialogue.
I'm referring to words like: "racist", "oppression", "trauma", "anJ-blackness". They imply that
something dramaJc is going on, and that dramaJc soluJons are warranted, even though I
think that a lot of the demands are very reasonable and that the soluJons aren't that
dramaJc. In other words, the vocabulary makes it harder for people to understand and
appreciate the protesters' concerns. The Q&A aaer Marat's walkout really helped me
understand the meaning behind the protests, especially because a lot was calmly explained, I
think that's the spirit that should drive the protestI would not post all this if it wasn't
anonymous, so maybe I'm a coward, or (more likely) there is an environment where dissent
with the protest is seen as anJ-black or racist (Distance RaJng 8)

No maZer what, there will always be some biases in texts. I don't think it's racist to learn
about a text that is discriminatory towards certain groups of people, as long as you can
understand what is discriminatory and you don't agree with it. (Distance RaJng 9)
What would we have missed?
(ConJnued)

I don't think hum110 is racist. It simply has a bunch of Mediterranean authors who are from an
extremely interesJng Jme of the world. Furthermore, if we had authors that were from a similar
Jme and black, then I wouldn't care if they were added to the syllabus. But I don't think we should
force black authors into the syllabus just because they're black unless they actually are valid for
the course. Furthermore, how do we even know these current authors were white? They're from
the Mediterranean, couldn't they have been brown or olive-skinned, or mulJtude of dierent skin
colors? I don't think the skin color should maZer regardless. (Distance RaJng 6)

Any dialogue about the course should include all subsets of students: those of color and white
students. To assert that white students are "voyeurs at best" is both racist and counterproducJve.
Any change to the HUM 110 syllabus will aect the academic lives of all students. Therefore it
would be unfair to force the decisions and opinions of a few groups of students onto the whole
freshman class. (Distance RaJng 10)

These are students who only feel comfortable parJcipaJng in the dialogue
anonymously. Even if you think they are wrong or misguided, they cannot be
argued with or debated because they are not expressing these ideas in the rst
place.
Why are Students Afraid to Speak?
Why Is This So Important?
Reed College is an insJtuJon of higher educaJon in the liberal arts
devoted to the intrinsic value of intellectual pursuit and governed by the
highest standards of scholarly pracJce, criJcal thought, and creaJvityThe
goal of the Reed educaJon is that students learn and demonstrate rigor
and independence in their habits of thought, inquiry and expression.
-Reed College Mission Statement
The current climate at Reed discourages students from engaging in intellectual
debate on an important issue.
A small number of vocal students acJvely discourage other students from expressing
an opinion and shut down aZempts to engage in dialogue.
The faculty and administraJon have encouraged these vocal students, implying that
they support some or all of these eorts to shut down dialogue.
What Should Reed Faculty and AdministraAon
Do?
The faculty and administraJon can help foster open dialogue within the Reed
community. I suggest that the Hum faculty and/or administraJon:

Write an email to the student body declaring that open dialogue is important and
encouraging all students to enter into the debate while sJll respecJng minority spaces. This
leZer should acknowledge that this is a complicated issue and worthy of intellectual
discussion.
Host in-person meeJngs and an anonymous forum where all students can safely engage in
dialogue on this issue and on others. These events should be moderated by someone who is
willing to ensure that open and honest dialogue is able to take place.
Conduct their own, more rigorous anonymous survey to beZer understand the current
climate within Hum110 and Reed College in general.
Be willing to counter and contradict any part of the student body that tells other students
they cannot speak out or that they should not have an intellectual posiJon on this subject (or
any other intellectual subject).
This may involve clarifying the dierence between intellectual subjects (what should we do about___),
which should be up for debate, and subjects of personal experience, which are not.
A Personal Note
When this protest began, my dierence raJng would have likely been a 14. I did not see any merit
to the protesters posiJon on Hum110.
Aaer much open and honest dialogue within my Hum conference (thank you Ian Desai and
classmates), I realized that I harbor some very problemaJc, unconscious and heretofore
unexamined beliefs about the superiority of Greco-Roman thought. While I sJll believe that the
Hum110 curriculum is extremely valuable and want it to be preserved, I also recognize that
exposure to works by other cultures, and a greater understanding of the experiences of
minoriJes and oppressed people, will make me a beZer and more well-rounded person.
Without the open debate fostered in my Hum conference, I do not believe I would have come to
this realizaJon.

I believe in dialogue. I believe that the students of Reed College are open, brilliant intellectuals
capable of having this debate. I believe that only through discussion and the exchange of ideas can
we change minds and make this campusand the worlda beZer place.

Thank you for your Jme.
Resources:
View the survey here: hZps://goo.gl/zanSz
View all text responses and write-in responses here: hZps://goo.gl/xnaX0V
View my endless spreadsheets of data here: hZps://goo.gl/S65bO4
View up-to-the-minute raw data here: hZps://goo.gl/Hqs5Jl
Reed Discusses Hum110, etc. Facebook page:
hZps://www.facebook.com/hum110discussion/


My email: swannla@reed.edu