 "Photo: Joe Griffith / IC")
 "Photo: Joe Griffith / IC")
Phrases such as "opening the floodgates" and "inviting the playground into our classrooms" are used as analogies referring to students being admitted from urban school districts into the College of Arts and Sciences. The use of these analogies by one CAS faculty member has sparked concerns of racism at UT among some students and faculty members.
In his post on the Arts and Sciences College Forum entitled, "Hub of Mediocrity: Inviting the Playground into Our Classrooms," David Nemeth, a professor of geography and planning, criticizes recommendations on how to make the CAS in the top tier ranking among arts and sciences colleges nationwide.
Nemeth said recruiting and retaining "academically unmotivated students" from urban areas is counterproductive when trying to bring the CAS into "top tier" rankings.
"The floodgates are already opening up: the discipline problems and anti-academic attitudes that have already trashed the academic aspirations of our urban public primary and secondary schools are apparently soon to be invited, accommodated and formally implemented into our own [CAS] curriculum, scholarship, teaching/learning modalities, space and graduate studies," Nemeth said in his blog post.
According to a mass e-mail sent anonymously to the UT community on Saturday, titled "More racist filth from the College of Arts and Sciences Council Blog," the comments posted by Nemeth are indirectly racially charged.
"David, I'm sorry you don't like students from ‘urban public primary and secondary schools' in your class, but believe it or not, not all minority students (because that is what ‘urban' is code for, and everybody knows it, David) have ‘discipline problems and anti-academic attitudes,'" the anonymous e-mail said.
Student Government President Krystal Weaver, a senior majoring in pharmacy, said the post was offensive because it attacks UT's recruitment processes.
"They are attacking these students by saying they don't care about their academics, which is completely untrue. They have a 3.5 GPA; obviously they're making an effort to come to college and it's not a real representation of who they are. I took offense to it because although I'm not personally a UT Guarantee student, I feel I represent them," Weaver said.
During Tuesday's ASC meeting, Weaver addressed the council asking for individuals to stand up with her against the claims made by Nemeth.
Weaver also brought a written statement to address Nemeth's blog posts to the Board of Trustees Academic and Student Affairs Committee on Monday.
Weaver said people need to be conscientious of what they say.
"Even saying that there are people who are from suburbs … are academically unmotivated … to associate academic un-motivation with urban students is unfair to say so — it's not a true representation of all urban students no matter what their race is," she said.
Ashley Pryor, associate professor of women's studies, said in an e-mail that she is concerned about the way the message will be interpreted by prospective urban students.
"I hope faculty will be concerned about what students (and colleagues at other institutions, and our constituents throughout the state of Ohio) will see on this blog if they visit. Consider this entry, posted a few days ago by an anonymous blogger: ‘If I am reborn in this World as a UT A&S College professor I will consider inviting student clickers, tweeters, cell phones and other recreational devices into my classroom. Just allow me my taser.' Just what kind of message are we sending to our students with this kind of talk?," Pryor said.
Nemeth said his words are being misinterpreted.
"What is racism? This person says urban means minority. In this department, urban means city. It doesn't mean color or race or anything," he said. "There's a lot of pain caused by this e-mail. If this wouldn't have been widely distributed, then Krystal and Rachel wouldn't have been at the meeting and protesting something they didn't understand. I would be happy if this situation would turn into a teaching event or fade away without hurting anyone's feelings."
Pryor said though Nemeth characterizes disciplinary problems and anti-academic attitudes as a problem in urban schools he "never acknowledges that under-prepared, unmotivated and undisciplined students also come from our suburban schools."
Nemeth said though it may be Weavers job to stand for the student body, she looked into the anonymous e-mail without examining the facts.
"You can't blame Krystal for paying attention to the politics of Arts and Sciences. I found it unfortunate she had a resolution but didn't know any of the details that she was promoting the resolution for," he said. "She didn't know much about the roundtable obviously, and she had read [the e-mail] and it sounded to me that the resolution was based on this as if it was factual and not based on any details in the post that I posted."
Jamie Barlowe, chair of women's and gender studies, applauded Weaver for bringing the issue to the ASC.
"As those of us who work on issues of discrimination know, intentions are not the relevant point. Ms. Weaver was not assigning motives or impugning the intentions of the commentators, but instead was concerned about their negative implications and consequences," she said. "As faculty we have, I believe, a responsibility to consider the implications of what we say and to think about the ways our comments are received by various audiences, particularly students."
But Brian Patrick, associate professor of communication, said he felt Weaver tried to ambush the ASC.
"I thought this was kind of a cheap publicity trick," he said. "But I still think people should read things before they talk about this."
Though Nemeth's post is seen as racist by some, Nemeth said his post was noting more than a disagreement with the roundtable recommendations to bringing the CAS to "top tier" status.
is a member of the 
43 comments
Maybe we can do something to make UT a little better for everyone instead of just tearing people down, thats what my point is...
Just the other night I had to fill out an electronic survey so I went to the library to do that...I couldnt even concentrate because of all the distractions with people on cell phones and yelling across the room to check out facebook. I challenge Krystal Weaver to do something about that facility if she wants to make a lasting impact on the UT campus. Instead of speaking about lacking academic preparedness or calling out "racism" I encourage both parties to do a survey of their own at Carlson library for actual facts. If no actual survey is done this is just going to be another lost argument that people will forget in 2 weeks and it will also serve as a learning tool for both parties invlolved.
I tend to agree with the post preceding directly mine by "Current A and S Student." I also agree with Dr. Nemeth that this whole debate should be used as a learning experience for all involved. The vicious cycle of underfunding many urban schools experience is a serious issue to be discussed, as is the appropriate action Universities such as UT should take regarding that situation.In any case, having taken one of Nemeth's classes and talked with him on numerous occasions, I find it difficult to believe his comments were racially motivated.
Rather than jumping immediately to race, let's think about this for a moment. It is generally accepted that urban school districts have lower success rates than suburban schools. Why is that? Could it be in anyway related to the way that Ohio funds its public schools? You know...the process that has been declared unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court multiple times? As long as the primary tax burden is placed directly on the community where the school is located (thus creating a cycle of failure of poor areas not being able to fund their schools and rendering them poor as well) we will continue to have unprepared and unmotivated students. Fix the source. Kudos to Dr. Nemeth for bringing this debate to light.