Commonsense & Wonder

College unveils latest microaggression: Public monuments depicting ‘white cisgender men and women’

Dave Urbanski  10 hours

Among the microaggressions listed in The New School's online guide include "monuments, artwork, or portraiture in public spaces that are predominantly (often exclusively) white cisgender men and women." Sorry, Abe. (Image source: YouTube screenshot) 

The New School — a private university in New York City — is all over microaggressions.

The school’s online guide breaks it all down. Did you know, for instance, there are three types of microaggressions? The microinsult, the microassault and, of course, the insidious microinvalidation.

Things get even more interesting once you delve into the guide’s examples of microaggressions. There are, of course, the usual suspects, such as saying “You throw well for a girl” and telling a person of color, “You act/speak/write so white.”

But then there are microaggressions such as “seats in the classroom / auditorium / office” that are “too small for many people.”

In addition, “the majority of readings on all your class syllabi feature only readings from white cisgender men.”

And lest you forget, “monuments, artwork, or portraiture in public spaces that are predominantly (often exclusively) white cisgender men and women.”

Kinda makes for some challenging cognitive dissonance when you consider landmarks like the Lincoln Memorial and sculptures like the bust of Margaret Sanger — a hero of the left and founder of Planned Parenthood — in the Smithsonian.

Margaret Sanger bust sits in the Smithsonian museum. (Image source: YouTube screenshot)

Then again the New School isn’t in Washington, D.C.

The guide also offers help for recognizing and responding to microaggressions — as well as tips for the “empowered bystander/upstander” and even the party guilty of the microaggression.

If you’re in the latter category, make sure you take heed of the steps the guide outlines for formulating an “effective” apology — including an “acknowledgment that social norms or expectations were violated.” Then, of course, you must “realize your privilege.”

The New School is fighting back against microaggressions as well, encouraging students to document instances when they take place and report them to school authorities.

“Acts of bias and discrimination are violations of the university Policy on Discrimination, and may also be a violation of the Student Code of Conduct, the Sexual Assault Policy and the Sexual Harassment Policy depending on the incident,” the guide states. “These may take the form of behaviors, verbal remarks, written messages, drawings or other kinds of images.”