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Seeking support for a voluntary statement condemning discriminatory tweets

To all faculty members of Hiroshima University

A tweet made on July 30 by an assistant professor (employed as an assistant professor in training) at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences of our University has been severely criticized by a student group (Movement Beyond Hate), for being "discriminatory," and which was reported in several newspapers. Hiroshima University issued an "apology" for this statement on its web page on August 11. Since then, various groups and individuals, including students of Hiroshima University, have expressed their opinions and publicized their statements on this issue on Twitter, etc. However, faculty members in Hiroshima University have not yet made any statement regarding their opinions and stand.

We may not be accustomed to criticizing colleagues except on academic grounds. However, this tweet is said to hint on "racism", a non-scientific and deceptive attitude which denies "diversity," the very basis of scholarship itself, and which may seriously harm "academic freedom."

Therefore, we believe that we must unequivocally declare Hiroshima University as an independent community of scholars, each member supporting "diversity" by her/his own awareness and actions and has the right of "academic freedom." In this sense, we should also take this opportunity to transform Hiroshima University into a university that truly recognizes diversity in a fairer way.

Those who agree with the above ideas and the following statement are cordially and enthusiastically invited to join us.

Thank you.

‘Racism is an ailment of the mind and the soul. It kills many more than any contagion. It dehumanizes anyone it touches.’ Nelson Mandela

List of callers of the statement (alphabetical order of second/family names):

Marie-Noelle Beauvieux (Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

Tomohiko Hirate (Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

Takayuki Kawaguchi (Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

Naoe Kawamoto (Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

Seiichiro Kihara (Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

Lawrence Manzano Liao (Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

Takashi Maruta (Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

Taira Nakamura (Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

Yumiko Saito (Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life)

Miki Shibata (Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

Satoru Ueno (Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life)

Keisaburo Toyonaga (Headquarters for Education)

Mariko Yoshida (Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

Note:

We regret to say that support is only currently limited to the staffs belonging to Hiroshima University. We would like to ask those who are not connected to Hiroshima University for their support and encouragement in other ways rather than joining this statement.

Anonymous signatures are also possible. We look forward to the support of as many people as possible.

Current number of supporters: 81 (As of 19:00 on October 19, 2021)

Join us

We presented our statement to President's Office at 4:00 pm on September 17 along with a list of 13 proposers, 33 supporters with real names, and 18 anonymous supports. It would be a great help if you continuously spread a word to collect more approval for our action. We are planning to visit the office a few more times to submit a list as more supporters join us.

Future plan:

Second aggregation of support: Friday, September 24, at 5 p.m.

Third aggregation of support: Thursday, September 30, at 5 p.m.

The statement will be submitted to the President after the first aggregation specifying the number of supporters including their names except for those who requested anonymity.

Draft statement

Collective Statement by Hiroshima University Faculty Members

Concerning a ‘Discriminatory’ Tweet

-We Want a Transparent ‘Investigating Committee’ in response to the ‘Apology’ issued by Hiroshima University on August 11-

September 13, 2021

Dr. Mitsuo Ochi, President

Hiroshima University

Hiroshima University posted on its web site an ‘Apology’ on August 11, saying ‘A specially appointed assistant professor belonging to the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences of our university made a tweet that may well be understood to encourage discrimination and prejudice against particular nationals.’ This ‘Apology’ quotes the statement of apology made by the above assistant professor, which begins with the following sentence, ‘There was an expression that could be perceived as connecting a particular group with a specific act, contrary to my intention,’ and echoes it by saying ‘this university also identifies it as an inappropriate expression,’ thus indicating that it is a problem of ‘inappropriateness in expression.’

However, the problem we found is that this assistant professor's tweet is non-scientific and non-academic, by far more serious than the mere possibility ‘to encourage discrimination and prejudice against particular national,’ as it denies the ‘recognition of diversity’ that is the very basis of the contemporary science and scholarship by specifically mentioning ‘morally inferior Chinese.’ Morals are sensitivities formed and shared by a group of people among themselves and, thus, the phrase ‘morally inferior Chinese’ directly shows the discriminatory tendency of this assistant professor to look down on ‘Chinese’ in general as ‘inferior.’ Even if this assistant professor had made the above tweet with an apparently unacceptable act in mind, what is questioned here is the attitude to equate and generally look down on a group of people of the same geographical origin as ‘inferior’ as a result of the actions of particular members. This attitude must be severely criticized as the opposite to rational thinking that is patently inappropriate especially for members of the academic community and is deemed a failure to recognize the diversity that underlies the former.

In the same vein, the perception of Hiroshima University mentioned above is completely lackadaisical and its self-definition as ‘an international university that does not allow any discrimination or prejudice but respects human rights’ or its declaration to ‘continue to respect diversity in education and research’ will remain a lip service that cannot win the trust of society, unless it clearly expresses the unequivocal position to totally reject the unscientific and non-academic nature of the tweet. Otherwise, it will become inevitable that Hiroshima University will be shamefully and unfairly criticized by everyone as the ‘only national university where racism is being disseminated by racists.’

Therefore, we request you and other executives of Hiroshima University as one of the prestigious educational institutions to clarify what the real problems in this case are. Thereafter, the university must disclose the sequence of all events up until now at the earliest time and an ‘Investigating Committee’ must be set up in a transparent and fair manner, with committee members selected from among a wide field avoiding any conflicts of interest. The ‘Investigating Committee,’ with due and sufficient care to be taken towards those students, staffs and faculty members of Chinese origin as well as all minority communities in Hiroshima University, must investigate all the issues discussed by the students in Hiroshima University and in the Social Network Services in relation to this case in a fair and transparent manner. We specifically request the proceedings and other documents of the ‘Investigating Committee’ to be prepared in detail and made public, even those documents that are still in progress.