“Racist, offensive, and in violation of shared community values”:

From the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin:

An e-mail from group leaders [of OAD, a quasi-fraternity] suggested that members snap “a photo with 10 or more Asians,” an ethnic group that makes up about 13 percent of students.

Rumors about the photo scavenger hunt, which also asked members to photograph themselves doing things like standing on a roof, mooning fellow students, or blocking traffic, soon passed from students angered by its racial overtones to college administrators.

Ann Quinley, the dean of students, sent an e-mail to all students denouncing the incident, quickly making it the buzz of Pomona College’s 1,500 students.

“The potential of having numerous students run around campus trying to snap photographs with 10 or more Asian or Asian American people is racist, offensive, and in violation of shared community values,” Quinley wrote on behalf of the Incident Response Team, a committee that responds to “bias-related incidents and hate crimes.”

She noted that the team had heard from numerous Asian students who expressed anger and fear “at the thought of being treated like “zoo animals’ or “rare specimens.'”

[OAD member Isaac] Salen and his friends, who have since been denounced by classmates, confronted by school administrators, and exposed to numerous e-mails calling the scavenger hunt racist, feel overwhelmed. They have apologized for their actions and may face disciplinary action both from the student disciplinary board and the college itself. . . .

The e-mail from Quinley noted that student leaders “expressed their outrage and fear for the safety of their fellow students” when they heard about the scavenger hunt.

“I don’t understand that,” [OAD member Isaac] Salen said. “No one actually even took pictures, even before it became a controversy.” . . .

But many minority groups and students felt [a recent cross-burning] incident exemplified the hostile climate they believe non-white students face at the colleges and in society.

The photo-scavenger hunt also came as the Asian American Mentor Program, which assigns all Asian students to Asian mentor groups when they arrive on campus, ramped up events to challenge Asian stereotypes as the new semester began.

“Do you know how likely Asian Americans are to be below the poverty line,” a typical advertisement read. “Do you know why it sucks when people think your race is smart and successful?”

The dean’s e-mail about the scavenger hunt likened it to the cross-burning incident and “how Asian Americans have, and still are, marginalized and objectified throughout the history of the United States.”

Erica Lai, a Pomona junior and a member of the Incident Response Team, agreed with that assessment.

“The idea of grouping up Asians and taking pictures like they are caged animals or novelty items is offensive to the whole community,” she said. . . .

[OAD member Isaac] Salen fears members of the group may also be disciplined over the scavenger hunt, which would violate the school’s harassment policy if deans can prove that it created an “element of fear” on campus.

“I don’t think people were walking around afraid, especially since the thing never happened,” Salen said. “But this is their opportunity to appear tough on racial sensitivity and they’re going to throw the book at us.”

     I suppose I can see why some people might find this annoying — but it sounds like it’s generating far more of a fuss than it deserves. Seriously, just how evil is it to try to snap a photo with 10 or more Asian students? Newspapers, presumably, do it often enough (say, for stories on Asians at college). As some students quoted in the story pointed out, the school itself does it as a means of showing its openness to Asians. Doing it for a scavenger hunt may lack the same social value — but it hardly seems to be terribly frightening, offensive, or outrageous.

     Also, while Pomona College is a private institution, and thus not bound by the First Amendment, it is bound by California Education Code sec. 94367 (the “Leonard Law”), which in relevant part reads:

(a) No private postsecondary educational institution shall make or enforce any rule subjecting any student to disciplinary sanctions solely on the basis of conduct that is speech or other communication that, when engaged in outside the campus or facility of a private postsecondary institution, is protected from governmental restriction by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or Section 2 of Article 1 of the California Constitution. . . .

(e) Nothing in this section prohibits the imposition of discipline for harassment, threats, or intimidation, unless constitutionally protected. . . .

It’s not completely clear that this covers taking photographs — i.e., gathering material in preparation for communication — rather than just communication. Whether and when information gathering is constitutionally protected under the First Amendment alongside information dissemination is a difficult question. Likewise, it isn’t certain whether “speech or other communication” includes only information dissemination or also information gathering. Nonetheless, here the discipline seemed to be based on the suggestion that photos be taken, since apparently no photos were actually snapped, and that suggestion is clearly constitutional speech. Given that the suggestion can’t be credibly said to be “harassment, threats, or intimidation,” it seems quite likely that the contemplated “disciplinary action” from the college would be illegal.