IU faculty not some 'crazed lynch mob'

Melanie Sims' recent piece, "Hostile waters," is an ugly and intellectually dishonest diatribe that does discredit to the IDS opinion pages.\nThe sanctimonious tenor of her article (where she discusses "reprimanding" and "chin-checking" those who might impugn the character of a black person) is very tiresome; doubly so, since she makes precious few legitimate points.\nSims' suggestion that faculty disapproval of IU President Adam Herbert is being motivated by latent racism severely strains credibility, the resolution for a midterm review having been catalyzed by the University's failure to elevate a man of color. She doesn't really bother to back up this very serious assertion in any substantive manner. Rather, Sims just blithely characterizes a solid majority of this school's faculty as a crazed lynch mob.\nWorse still is Sims' response to faculty allegations of Herbert's "laziness." This is some of the most corrosive buffoonery I've laid eyes on in some time. I quote: "There are some adjectives that shouldn't be used when describing black folks. 'Lazy' is one of them."\n'Please,' Sims seems to be saying, 'Won't anybody judge this man by the color of his skin and not by the content of his character?' Surely no one so devoted to a Bush scion (she twice notes Herbert's liking for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush) would desire this subjection to the "softy bigotry of low expectations"