Water buffalo incident
Encyclopedia
The water buffalo incident was a controversy at the University of Pennsylvania
in 1993, in which student Eden Jacobowitz was charged with violating the university's racial harassment policy.
," out his window to a crowd of mostly black Delta Sigma Theta
sorority sisters creating a ruckus outside his dorm. Others had shouted at the crowd, including several who shouted racial epithets, but Jacobowitz was the only one charged.
Jacobowitz' initial advisor was assigned to him by the University and urged him to accept its offer of a settlement. The settlement required him to admit to violating the racial harassment policy. He refused and retained another advisor, history professor Alan Charles Kors.
Jacobowitz explained his choice of "water buffalo" as from Hebrew slang, "Behema
," used by Jews to refer to a loud, rowdy person. He procured several expert witnesses who attested to this and others, such as Michael Meyers, who gave testimonies that "water buffalo" was not a racial epithet against African American
s.
Jacobowitz's story was brought to the fore by the media focus on Penn and on April 23, several days before his hearing, the New York-based Jewish Daily Forward
broke his story with the headline "Pennsylvania Preparing to Buffalo a Yeshiva Boy" The story gained even wider media coverage after the Wall Street Journal picked up the story with an editorial entitled "Buffaloed at Penn." Jacobowitz was interviewed on television several times.
Based on testimony that Jacobowitz had called the women "water buffalo" and the university's belief that this was a racial epithet, they proceeded with prosecuting him. On May 13, 1993, news anchor John Chancellor
had the following commentary:
Despite the public outcry and widespread media coverage, the University refused to discuss or explain its actions. The hearing was delayed for another two months while international press commented and criticized Penn's decisions. Garry Trudeau
devoted a Sunday's Doonesbury
to the water buffalo incident.
Despite repeated requests by Jacobowitz's legal teams to have charges dropped, the University pressed forward. At the hearing the panel decided not to dismiss the charges and issued a gag order to keep proceedings from leaking to the press. The University's actions during the hearing would later come under some fire when it was revealed that they charged him with using racial epithets despite knowing that he had been absolved by a university police investigation.
After intense scrutiny by reporters, the University denied issuing a gag order
, and University President Sheldon Hackney
offered Kors a deal in which Jacobowitz would apologize for rudeness and the University and the plaintiffs would drop the charges. The affair ended when at a press conference the 15 women agreed to drop charges, claiming that the media coverage made it unlikely they would get a fair hearing. The University stated there were no charges pending.
According to The Shadow University by Alan Charles Kors
and Harvey A. Silverglate
, when asked on NBC whether he had ever heard of "water buffalo" being used as a racist slur, Larry Moneta, a vice-provost of the University at the time, replied, "The issue is not whether I have or not. The issue is also, you know, language in my mind is neutral. It's a question of the context in which is language is used." Later on, Kors and Silverglate report that Moneta grudgingly said that at the University, "All speech is free." In 2007, Moneta faced scrutiny while being sued by students at Duke University
for First Amendment rights
violations during the infamous 2006 Duke University lacrosse case.
A second student, Jacobowitz's roommate, was also charged by the university and placed on probation for his part in the original midnight ruckus. The second student had agreed to probation in order to avoid a hearing, which he felt would require an attorney his family could not afford. After the university dropped charges against Jacobowitz, the second student's faculty counselor sought to have the penalty of probation reversed, but Robin Read, the university's judicial officer overseeing the case, refused, even though the second student had not been the one to yell "water buffalo." He had merely been one of several students to yell at the women for disturbing study and sleep late at night.
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
in 1993, in which student Eden Jacobowitz was charged with violating the university's racial harassment policy.
History
The incident occurred when Jacobowitz shouted, "Shut up, you water buffaloWater buffalo
The water buffalo is a domesticated bovid widely kept in Asia, Europe and South America.Water buffalo can also refer to:*Wild water buffalo , the wild ancestor of the domestic water buffalo...
," out his window to a crowd of mostly black Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta is a non-profit Greek-lettered sorority of college-educated women who perform public service and place emphasis on the African American community. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was founded on January 13, 1913 by twenty-two collegiate women at Howard University...
sorority sisters creating a ruckus outside his dorm. Others had shouted at the crowd, including several who shouted racial epithets, but Jacobowitz was the only one charged.
Jacobowitz' initial advisor was assigned to him by the University and urged him to accept its offer of a settlement. The settlement required him to admit to violating the racial harassment policy. He refused and retained another advisor, history professor Alan Charles Kors.
Jacobowitz explained his choice of "water buffalo" as from Hebrew slang, "Behema
Behemoth
Behemoth is a mythological beast mentioned in the Book of Job, 40:15-24. Metaphorically, the name has come to be used for any extremely large or powerful entity.-Plural as singular:...
," used by Jews to refer to a loud, rowdy person. He procured several expert witnesses who attested to this and others, such as Michael Meyers, who gave testimonies that "water buffalo" was not a racial epithet against African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s.
Jacobowitz's story was brought to the fore by the media focus on Penn and on April 23, several days before his hearing, the New York-based Jewish Daily Forward
The Forward
The Forward , commonly known as The Jewish Daily Forward, is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York City. The publication began in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily issued by dissidents from the Socialist Labor Party of Daniel DeLeon...
broke his story with the headline "Pennsylvania Preparing to Buffalo a Yeshiva Boy" The story gained even wider media coverage after the Wall Street Journal picked up the story with an editorial entitled "Buffaloed at Penn." Jacobowitz was interviewed on television several times.
Based on testimony that Jacobowitz had called the women "water buffalo" and the university's belief that this was a racial epithet, they proceeded with prosecuting him. On May 13, 1993, news anchor John Chancellor
John Chancellor
John William Chancellor was a well-known American journalist who spent most of his career with NBC News...
had the following commentary:
Eden Jacobowitz is a student at the University of Pennsylvania. His studies were interrupted by a noisy crowd of students, many black and female. He yelled out his window, "Shut up, you water buffalo." He is now charged with racial harassment under the university's Code of Conduct. The school offered to dismiss the charge if he would apologize, attend a racial sensitivity seminar, agree to dormitory probation, and accept a temporary mark on his record which would brand him as guilty. He was told the term "water buffalo" could be interpreted as racist because a water buffalo is a dark primitive animal that lives in Africa. That is questionable semantics, dubious zoology, and incorrect geography. Water buffalo live in Asia, not in Africa. This from the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Jacobowitz is fighting back. The rest of us, however, are still in trouble. The language police are at work on the campuses of our better schools. The word cops are marching under the banner of political correctness. The culture of victimization is hunting for quarry. American English is in danger of losing its muscle and energy. That's what these bozos are doing to us.
Despite the public outcry and widespread media coverage, the University refused to discuss or explain its actions. The hearing was delayed for another two months while international press commented and criticized Penn's decisions. Garry Trudeau
Garry Trudeau
Garretson Beekman "Garry" Trudeau is an American cartoonist, best known for the Doonesbury comic strip.-Background and education:...
devoted a Sunday's Doonesbury
Doonesbury
Doonesbury is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau, that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States to the title character, Michael Doonesbury, who has progressed from a college...
to the water buffalo incident.
Despite repeated requests by Jacobowitz's legal teams to have charges dropped, the University pressed forward. At the hearing the panel decided not to dismiss the charges and issued a gag order to keep proceedings from leaking to the press. The University's actions during the hearing would later come under some fire when it was revealed that they charged him with using racial epithets despite knowing that he had been absolved by a university police investigation.
After intense scrutiny by reporters, the University denied issuing a gag order
Gag order
A gag order is an order, sometimes a legal order by a court or government, other times a private order by an employer or other institution, restricting information or comment from being made public.Gag orders are often used against participants involved in a lawsuit or criminal trial...
, and University President Sheldon Hackney
Sheldon Hackney
Francis Sheldon Hackney is a prominent U.S. educator. He is the Boies Professor of United States History at the University of Pennsylvania. Hackney earned his Ph.D. in American History at Yale University, where he worked with eminent Southern historian C. Vann Woodward. He began his career as a...
offered Kors a deal in which Jacobowitz would apologize for rudeness and the University and the plaintiffs would drop the charges. The affair ended when at a press conference the 15 women agreed to drop charges, claiming that the media coverage made it unlikely they would get a fair hearing. The University stated there were no charges pending.
According to The Shadow University by Alan Charles Kors
Alan Charles Kors
Alan Charles Kors is Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches the intellectual history of the 17th and 18th centuries. He has received both the Lindback Foundation Award and the Ira Abrams Memorial Award for distinguished college teaching. Dr. Kors graduated summa...
and Harvey A. Silverglate
Harvey A. Silverglate
Harvey A. Silverglate is an attorney based out of Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is the co-founder, with Alan Charles Kors, of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education , for which he also serves as the current Chairman of the Board of Directors.He holds degrees from Princeton University ...
, when asked on NBC whether he had ever heard of "water buffalo" being used as a racist slur, Larry Moneta, a vice-provost of the University at the time, replied, "The issue is not whether I have or not. The issue is also, you know, language in my mind is neutral. It's a question of the context in which is language is used." Later on, Kors and Silverglate report that Moneta grudgingly said that at the University, "All speech is free." In 2007, Moneta faced scrutiny while being sued by students at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
for First Amendment rights
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
violations during the infamous 2006 Duke University lacrosse case.
A second student, Jacobowitz's roommate, was also charged by the university and placed on probation for his part in the original midnight ruckus. The second student had agreed to probation in order to avoid a hearing, which he felt would require an attorney his family could not afford. After the university dropped charges against Jacobowitz, the second student's faculty counselor sought to have the penalty of probation reversed, but Robin Read, the university's judicial officer overseeing the case, refused, even though the second student had not been the one to yell "water buffalo." He had merely been one of several students to yell at the women for disturbing study and sleep late at night.
See also
- University of Pennsylvania controversies
- Controversies about the word "niggardly"
External links
- The water buffalo incident through eyes of Jacobowitz Daily Pennsylvanian, 4/15/2003
- GUEST COLUMNIST: Kors: Penn, Hackney mishandled 'water buffalo' case Daily Pennsylvanian, 12/7/1998
- Sheldon Hackney's Spring From Hell Pennsylvania Gazette May/June 2003
- Book excerpt from The Shadow University