Yet Another Instance of MWC ‘Inclusion’

Michael Zitz from the Free Lance-Star wrote an excellent – if sadly typical – column on the MWC student body’s opinion of their gracious hosts:

Rigel, a member of Giant, the student entertainment committee at MWC, e-mailed me to explain that safety is the reason.

“I am not implying in any way that the people of Fredericksburg would harm anyone on campus, but if tickets were to sell out at the door and if we were forced to turn people away then what you would have is a lot of ‘townies’ with nothing to do wandering around on a college campus,” Rigel wrote. “In any town, in any city, in any suburb, no matter how safe, this is not the wisest of decisions.

“If we had the police staff to escort such a number of citizens off campus, then I’m sure we would do so; however, as that is not the case, we decided to close the concert to the public. This is in no way a commentary on how the college regards the city of Fredericksburg, nor is it some elitist way to shut you out of our activities.”

Hmm, I have an idea. . . let’s review this statement in the light of which it was intended, replacing the term “townie” with something more controversial, namely by the term which certain members of the MWC community have decided to address my brother who attends that bastion of liberal toleration:

Rigel, a member of Giant, the student entertainment committee at MWC, e-mailed me to explain that safety is the reason.

“I am not implying in any way that the people of Fredericksburg (i.e. sand niggers) would harm anyone on campus, but if tickets were to sell out at the door and if we were forced to turn people (i.e. sand niggers)away then what you would have is a lot of ‘townies’ (i.e. sand niggers) with nothing to do wandering around on a college campus,” Rigel wrote. “In any town, in any city, in any suburb, no matter how safe, this is not the wisest of decisions.

“If we had the police staff to escort such a number of citizens (i.e. sand niggers) off campus, then I’m sure we would do so; however, as that is not the case, we decided to close the concert to the public (i.e. sand niggers). This is in no way a commentary on how the college regards the city of Fredericksburg (i.e. sand niggers), nor is it some elitist way to shut you (i.e. sand niggers) out of our activities.”

My apologies to the students of MWC, but Rigel’s comments were just veiled commentary on what the student body truly thinks of us ‘Frednecks’, an epithet specifically created by Mary Washington students to describe their less-than-valued hosts.

More accurately, it is an extension of what the pampered Yankee upper middle class elite think of rank-and-file Virginians. It extends to their feelings about Fredericksburgers, state and local politics, and ideas of education and leftist thought. Fredericksburg is the typical ignorant mainstream, and they are the enlightened ivory tower. We are the Frednecks, they are the youth who will change the world. No small wonder why MWC students have a culture of elitism on campus – it is because they have no pretenses about shedding their own prejudices, only fostering them.

At Catholic University, we have a strong tradition of actually participating in the community, not just in small numbers but in very large active groups. When a street needs to be cleaned, the University turned out to help – not specialized groups. When you went to get a drink, you went to Kitty O’Shea’s (now Johhny K’s) or Colonel Brooks, and you sat next to Brookland residents, University employees, priests, seminarians, and students. Even graduate students refused to segregate themselves from the community at large.

Sure there were incidents on and off campus from nearby residents. But we understood that they were not the folks we drank with at Brooks or went to church with on Sunday. We never identified our neighbors as Frednecks or some other invented epithet. We were all people, and all were welcome no matter what the event or lecture.

We were homogenous, but certanly not in the way that Mary Washington has earned the title.

And the racious band that was performing? None other than Nickel Creek, a bluegrass band.