Are College Campuses Racist Environments? [Reason Podcast]
Lawrence Ross vs. Kmele Foster in a public debate at the Soho Forum
"We want to say that campus racism is wherever 'the other' is," says Lawrence Ross, author of Blackballed: The Black and White Politics of Race on America's Campuses. "But no, [racism] happens at Missouri, Yale, Berkeley, Columbia, my alma mater, UCLA…whether it's a small college, or a private college, or a state college, it happens in every place."
In today's podcast, we've got the audio from a public debate between Ross and The Fifth Column's Kmele Foster over the
following proposition: "America's colleges have fostered a racist environment that makes them a hostile space for African American students."
The event was hosted by the Soho Forum, a monthly libertarian-themed Oxford-style debate series in New York City. At the beginning of the event, attendees get to vote on the evening's resolution. After the debaters have had their say, the audience votes again, and the side that's gained the most ground wins the contest.
Foster, arguing for the negative, won the debate by convincing 27 percent of the audience to come over to his side.
Next up at the Soho Forum: On Tuesday, June 13, it's Gene Epstein of Barron's vs. economist Mark Skousen over whether "Adam Smith should be honored as the father of modern economics and free-enterprise capitalism." Get your tickets here.
Audio production by Ian Keyser.
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