Are quiet policies in libraries discriminatory?

[ForgoTheConsequence]

Why Some Colleges Don't Seem to Be Meant for Brown Students

So when I strutted into my private university’s library in graduate school and found my first actual silent library, I wanted to crawl out of my skin. I found it suffocating. It was the first time I began to realize how much this space was not meant for me. I already had people question the validity of my enrollment, but you come to expect that when your middle school guidance counselor says you will never amount to anything. But an entire building communicating that an institution of higher education was not built for your kind was NOT something I was prepared for.

I gave up trying to learn how to study in silence because silence is a privilege I never had and silence is reserved for the privileged. I was now in an institution reserved for elites and I was not an elite in the slightest. Even the damn building told me so. I do not have a colonizer's mentality, nor do I seek to claim one. This mentality has only done a disservice to us since the beginning of time. I have a survivor's mentality, and I was able to thrive in grad school once I realized that my context made me resilient enough to survive even spaces meant to destroy me.


http://www.vivala.com/education/higher-education-latina-decolonizing-silence/4093?utm_content=vivala_fanpage&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=sm



I don't know if this is satire or not.

[SheilaT]

1. Maybe if you're unable to deal with a quiet library,

you can petition them for a noisy room.

[Albertoo]

2. Unwitting satire, I fear

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. Against assholes.

Who have no consideration for other people who are trying to read. Because it's a fucking library. Other than that? No.

[TM99]

4. Sweet lord

these kids are fragile and self-entitled little snits.

Quiet spaces are not meant to destroy you, they are there for all to be able to study and read without distractions and interruptions. You want a noisy space, go to a fucking bar or club!

[petronius]

5. I had a very similar experience when I was an undergrad: I strutted into the dining

common that first day, all excited about the all-you-can eat sandwich bar and the self-serve ice cream, but it was SOFT-SERVE ice cream. I didn't have soft serve ice cream when I was a kid, we got Thrifty ice cream, that came in those cylindrical scoops punched out of the container. All my classmates were making these perfect symmetrical swirls with the little droop at the top, but mine were weird-ass globs avalanche-ing down onto my wrist. It just made me realize that the entire dining common structure was deliberately designed to destroy me...

[Gidney N Cloyd]

14. :)

[linuxman]

15. I know just what you mean.

My dining hall served chicken cordon bleu. Being a simple country-boy, I phonetically asked the server for a piece of "chicken cordon Bleehuhhhh, only to be rudely escorted out by the over-muscled head of the largest and most popular fraternity, who was wearing his finest monogrammed sport-coat. I can still see his Banana Republic loafers in my nightmares.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

6. This is The Onion, right?

Or Borowitz????

Please tell me yes.....

[TreasonousBastard]

7. I don't think so...

I've known people who dread silence like this one seems to. Some things don't add up, like never have been in a library or silent class before college.

But, you could just go ahead and deal with it. Get some headphones

[2naSalit]

8. Or get whatever reading materials or whatever

and then go someplace else.

[romanic]

9. You know what?

Satire or not, I would probably guess some students of color actually *think* like this. That every single rule, person, or "space" is out to get them and destroy them. Who or what caused them to think this way? Sure our society has it's history and it's share of racist assholes; but who is fostering this fear in students of color? Cops? Fox news? Identity politics? College professors?

Maybe all of the above, I don't know.

[TipTok]

20. They've been told time and again that they are always the victim...

Doesn't seem healthy...

[GreenEyedLefty]

10. Not satire. Just a blazing sense of entitlement.

[Nye Bevan]

11. Suggesting that "brown students" have trouble with quiet libraries strikes me as racist (nt)

[cali]

12. Oh for pity's sake. This reads like parody.

[linuxman]

13. Well, That's definitely satire.

I refuse to believe anyone is that entitled, self-centered, self-loathing, or clueless.

[JHB]

16. Well, if she got paid for that, now she can buy earphones.

Problem solved! Or is that a colonial mentality?

[NCTraveler]

17. At UF the main library on campus is not a silent zone.

They have certain areas set up specifically for group work and by design promote communication. Of course people are expected to use their quiet voices.

When I wanted silence on campus as I had spare time but didn't want to go home I simply went to the law school and found an empty classroom. They were always unlocked and it was silent. Much different than the business or education sections on campus. I would literally have a whole room to myself.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

18. What the actual f? ...

[TipTok]

19. Poe's law...

I suspect not satire but not 100%.

[nadine_mn]

21. This is so bizarre. But I'll bite, since I was a poor Latina/Scandinavian kid who went to law school

And in no way had any privilege

Our law library had different zones - first floor was more noisy and then it got quieter with each floor. You could also check out study rooms. We also had 2 different lounges by the classrooms - one entitled the 'quiet lounge' - no food or drink or talking, just a bunch of students studying in silence.

I need background noise so I always studied (ok who are we kidding, I never studied in hs, college or law school but I did cram once a semester) in areas where there were people - cafes, the noisier floors, lounges.

Never considered it a part of growing up poor or that it was because I am Latina or that silence was for elites. Silence is for people who learn best in that environment. My husband cannot read if there is any noise going on, he is far from elite - just solid middle class.

This is just a weird conclusion to draw. "Colonizer's mentality"? Not all libraries are quiet - some just have quiet spaces. And once you get into upper levels of education, I have found that you get more serious learners and some of those learners can only study in silence - nothing to do with elitism and everything to do with learning style.

[Odin2005]

22. Can't tell if satire or actual idiocy.

[B2G]

23. Someone needs to take her out for a craft beer.

[KamaAina]

25. Thread win!

[KamaAina]

24. So help me, I thought this was going to be about people with Tourette's syndrome

[Taitertots]

26. If you don't need silence, then you can study anywhere.

This has to be satire.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

27. He/she should go to the public library in Palm Spings

All the retirees talk in voices that would DROWN OUT A JET AIRPLANE.

[callous taoboy]

28. YES, I THINK THEY ARE!!!!!