Qualifying Exams

A few years ago, I took my first qualifying exam along with 10 other graduate students. 4 of those 10 were other students of color in my department and as the results slowly started to come in we realized that all 4 students of color had failed the exam, while the other 6 had successfully passed on to the next stages of the program. In the days following the results, a couple of things were made clear to us: 1.) in the past 5-10 years the only people who had not passed an exam in the department had been students of color 2.) A professor who believed I should have passed was told by another reader “it wouldn’t hurt her to take it again” as the only explanation for failing me and 3.) a colleague was told by another professor – to her face - that students of color should never answer the race question because we were not capable of answering it correctly and without bias. Apparently, because of our life experiences and all our focus in graduate school is on race and politics, we have the hardest time answering the question appropriately and should try to avoid it. 
Interestingly, the professor who made the last claim only writes a question for the exam when a student studying – lets say “congress” - is also taking the exam. So how is it that a student studying “congress” can effectively answer a congress question because that is their expertise, but a student studying race should never answer a race questions because their interpretations of the readings are flawed? Of course, many more things were said throughout the months that followed, making it even harder for those that did not pass to focus since it had become such a big scandal within the department and everyone else knew who had failed the exam. 
At one point all of the students of color were invited to a dinner so we could discuss what WE could do differently to prepare better for exams. As much as I tried to explain to them that there may also be things the department could do differently, since the passing rates for students of color seemed to be systematically lower, that wasn’t a topic they were ready to tackle with just yet.

By: intellectual gangsta

Can the Subaltern Speak?

I was in a graduate methodologies seminar in which I was the only student of color and the topic for the week was post-colonial theories and writing. Following a summary on Spivak's "Can the subaltern speak," the entire class remained confused and unable to grasp the concept, until one student finally asked the professor: "I still don't get it, so what is a subaltern?" 

Rather than address the question, the professor turns to ME and asks that I explain "the subaltern" to everyone. I was taken aback after being put on the spot and could not seem to utter a word. As I looked around at all the impatient white faces waiting for my response, the professor shakes her hand at me and says, "Come on, come one, you know, tell them about your life, about your family’s migration, your home in the inner city, your experiences, etc." (!)

Horrified, I looked around (in what seemed to be slow motion!) at all the white privileged students around me. My life literally flashed before my eyes and I wondered how I could possibly explain my struggles, my life, in less than minute, knowing they could care less. And I couldn’t. The subaltern could not speak!

Grad School in the 1970s

Dear Younguns',

Back in my years in graduate school(1970s), almost everyone in my Latin American Political Science program were ex-military and/or Green Berets. They would tell stories about their time in Latin America...especially in Central America, in the jungles of Panama and whatnot. They used to JOKE AROUND on a regular basis about how running over iguanas was just like running over 'the peasants'. Can you believe it?

Well, I hope things have improved since those days....

Sincerely,
la vieja mula

Appalling Professor Comment!!

Stupid Things I heard @ Pomona College,

I'm sitting at a search committee meeting for a new professor hire and everything was already TENSE because it was a Chicano Studies and Sociology search. The Sociology faculty were making snide remarks throughout, saying, "why does this hire have to be a Latino?" and "do they even need to study Latinos to get this job?". One of the applicants mentioned she had been a teen mother in the letter of intent. One of the Sociology faculty turns to ME and says, "wouldn't YOU know all about that?" WHY PROFESSOR....WHY WOULD I KNOW??? Just because I'm Mexican?

By: La Pochita Diablita

Not Just BLACKS and MEXICANS

Every spring students admitted into doctoral programs fly across the United States to be wooed by faculty and graduate students. Before these prospectus students, as they are known to us, arrive to campus they have talked to at least one faculty members and several students. At the institution I attend the graduate students have a party (read: drink wine, eat cheese, and try to flaunt their knowledge). I’ve attended two of these damn things and left upset both times. Maybe I should stop going, clearly I’m not that smart.

 

As a prospective student I found myself in the corner of a small apartment talking to some fool from India and a flamboyant Mexican-American with a nervous laugh and an odd sense of humor. Having just visited schools in the US Southwest and seeing all white around me I asked about diversity. The Indian fellow replied, with a glass of red wine in the air, as if preparing to toast, “At Columbia, we have real diversity, not just Blacks and Mexicans, but real diversity. Folks from all over the world.” Then for no particular reason he elaborated on his reasons for coming to Columbia, “Chicago. Yes, I was going to go to Chicago. But you know, Chicago, it is, its in the GHETTO And nobody wants to be in the ghetto, people from the ghetto want to get out. We all know this.”

 

REAL DIVERSITY. PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD he said. These people from all over the world are privileged and getting folks of privilege together is something to be celebrated: raise your red wine everybody. The Blacks and Mexicans which he  flippantly discounted as real diversity represent the underprivileged of the state and neighborhood of this particular city. The university continues to push black folk out of their homes as they continue to buy more and more property for the benefit of its students: a real diverse bunch of folks. Blacks and Mexicans work behind the counters of the university restaurants and clean and wash the halls and bathrooms, while the police harass their kids and nephews. Yet for this Indian kid these Mexicans and Blacks are invisible. He doesn’t see them and sure as fuck doesn’t understand their plight. Diversity has been detached from any sense of justice. 

By: From the Basement of the Ivory Tower this is pocho enough

Hello from San Diego

Dear Stupid Things,

My first of working as a teaching assistant at UCSD, I was moderating a section from our class about contemporary racism. One student raises his hand and says, "I don't understand why everyone is so upset about racism, we have a Panda Express on every corner! If everyone eats ethnic foods how can they be racist?"

Signed,

Horrified in La Jolla

Stupid Things I've Heard in Graduate School.

Welcome. This blog is about stupid people and the things they say. Its especially important because many of these stupid people are graduate students-some even earning PhDs! And, yes, they think not only that they are smart, but that the things you say are stupid. So this is a space for those of us who would like to share with the world just how silly graduate students can. While it is intended for students of color, all are welcome to contribute. In fact, there is no single authors, the post come from all over the country and are completely anonymous.