The Yale dean's Yelp reviews use phrases like "white trash," "low class folks," and "barely educated morons."

WaPo reports under this faux-naive headline: "Yale dean once championed cultural sensitivity. Then she called people ‘white trash’ on Y...

WaPo reports under this faux-naive headline: "Yale dean once championed cultural sensitivity. Then she called people ‘white trash’ on Yelp." As if it's a puzzling paradox that an elite administrator would propound the usual diversity pap and actually view nonelites with contempt.

The most uncalled-for word in that headline is "once." I can't believe the dean — her name is June Chu — doesn't continually "champion cultural sensitivity." That's built into her job and no trouble to do. It would be trouble not to do. What dean at an elite — or nonelite — institution of higher education would renounce cultural sensitivity? It would take a very strangely bold dean to say: Hey, snowflakes, how about some old-school insensitivity for a change?*

But on her own, outside of work, Chu does some social media, and she doesn't talk like a dean, she talks like a person on social media. She's cheeky and tweaky. It's like Trump on Twitter.

Now, another way to look at this is that Chu felt empowered by her own status as a member of a minority group. Her non-PC language came in the context of an Asian restaurant she thinks is bad:

“If you are white trash, this is the perfect night out for you!” Chu wrote in a review about a Japanese restaurant, which she said lacked authenticity but was perfect for “those low class folks who believe this is a real night out.”

“Side note: employees are Chinese, not Japanese,” added Chu, who identifies in one review as Chinese American. In another restaurant review she said, “I guess if you were a white person who has no clue what mochi is, this would be fine for you.”

She was  comically wielding a little Asian privilege. Not that she defended herself that way. She apologized and deleted her Yelp account. 

"My remarks were wrong. There are no two ways about it."

I disagree. I see at least 2 ways, but there aren't 2 ways about which way is the easiest way.

__________________

* Imagine saying something like "I wonder, and I am not trying to be provocative: Is there no room anymore for a child or young person to be a little bit obnoxious, a little bit inappropriate or provocative or, yes, offensive?”