TSAD Revisionism

Remember D-Bags? Well, a new book by Stephen Nelson features the former Tufts President, John DiBiaggio, as Nelson weaves a revisionist tale about what went down during the Tufts Students Against Discrimination days.

Aside from several inaccuracies about the details of the story, including claims that Julie was running for President of TCF and that DiBiaggio spoke with TSAD personally on the first day of the sit-in (p. 72), Nelson throws analytic rigor to the wind, glowing that:

[During the sit-in] phase of the controversy, DiBiaggio again demonstrates his trademark, "wait, wait," patience (an important leadership trait in handling confrontational situations, especially when instantaneous responses appear to be required)... DiBiaggio describes the students as contending that "'the policy doesn't speak to self-acceptance.'" Wearing his hat as an educator, DiBiaggio replied, "'Well, explain that to me. How could a policy speak to whether you accept what you are?'" (p. 73)

Nelson's only source throughout this entire narrative is a 2003 interview with the former President, despite that the Chronicle of Higher Education, The Boston Globe, The Boston Phoenix, and The Tufts Daily all have extensive coverage of these events and the people who were involved are easily accessible. In this half-baked book published by a non-academic press, Nelson appears to be nothing more than a cheerleader for college Presidents as they face the harsh reality of their jobs. But his shoddy scholarship undoes the complexity of college campuses and undermines the agency that students have exhibited again and again as being the moral voices in their communities. If students do not take the initiative and put pressure on their college administrations to do the right thing, they never would.

Alumni who were students at Tufts in 2000 will be interested to know that Nelson does pique our suspicions that former Provost, Sol Gittleman, wanted the protesters arrested. Nelson writes:

DiBiaggio had to leave on a brief trip and while he was away, one of the senior administrators wanted to break up the sit-in. DiBiaggio continues the story: "I said, 'No. Wait, wait....You can't do that [arrest them] without me....Just let them sit in for the night and I'll talk to them when I come back.'" (p. 73) [ellipses and brackets in original]

Ignoring the fact that Nelson gets it wrong again (DiBiaggio was in California at the time of the sit-in and had to cut his trip short), it looks like TSAD has DiBiaggio to thank for keeping that senior administrator-who-shall-remain-unnamed at bay.

This kind of revisionism is expected from disreputable right-wing groups on the internet--and of this there is plenty. But the publishers of this book, the American Council on Education and Praeger, ought to have higher standards. Nelson's book is a pony show of college Presidents and is far from being an objective analysis.