In a statement released by Joanna Stalnaker in r/Columbia last Tuesday at 2:31 AM, it was brought to our attention that the Columbia Core Committee will be removing Song of Solomon from the LitHum syllabus, citing adequate POC representation in “texts such as Othello and… others.”
“Othello is a beautiful story of a valiant black man who becomes horribly possessive and jealous due to a trick, eventually strangling his own wife, ordering someone to be gruesomely killed, and eventually killing himself. We don’t find it concerning at all that the only explicitly black character is portrayed in this way,” Stalnaker explained.
When asked if the committee was concerned about the syllabus featuring exclusively white authors, Stalnaker replied, “What do you mean? Montaigne’s not white, he’s French! Our LitHum syllabus is a beautiful representation of the Western world.”
John Goldman, an “ANALYST INTERN—Goldman Sachs” and “Your go-to Econ Student for Insider Trading Tips” personally reached out to The Fed on his premium LinkedIn account to let us know his thoughts.
“Well, it’s obviously a very delicate issue, and, as a white person of color in 2021, I’ve recently been feeling very oppressed myself, so I get it. But I personally find it beautiful that Shakespeare decided to tell the story of a black man in white-dominated Europe. It reminds me of my favorite African-American history film, The Help!”
We are so delighted that our Core Curriculum is headed by people who care so much about incorporating diverse pieces of literature into our LitHum classes. Stay tuned for more from the other side of Broadway, where Barnard has implemented a new mode of thinking, “Obama spoke at 2012 commencement—and other excuses we’ll use when accused of racism.”
