Students burn copies of Hispanic professor’s book after she asked them to think about their white privilege: report

Georgia Southern students reportedly burned copies of an Hispanic author’s book after she challenged them to examine their white privilege.

Author and University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor Jennine Capó Crucet was at the university as part of a book series for first-year students, according to student newspaper The George-Anne, discussing her novel “Make Your Home Among Strangers,” which tells of a poor Latina girl who’s accepted to a selective college in New York.

{mosads}During her talk, one of the students reportedly told Crucet, “I noticed that you made a lot of generalizations about the majority of white people being privileged.”

Others, according to the George-Anne, asked Crucet why her book was critical of white people. 

“I came here because I was invited and I talked about white privilege because it’s a real thing that you are actually benefiting from right now in even asking this question,” she replied. 

“What’s so heartbreaking for me and what is so difficult in this moment right now is to literally have read a talk about this exact moment happening and it’s happening again. That is why a different experience, the white experience, is centered in this talk.”

After the event, some students, upset with Crucet, decided to burn her book and then post their actions to Twitter.

so after our FYE book’s author came to my school to talk about it… these people decide to burn her book because “it’s bad and that race is bad to talk about”. white people need to realize that they are the problem and that their privilege is toxic. author is a woman of color. pic.twitter.com/HiX4lGT7Ci

— elaina⭐️ (@elainaaan) October 10, 2019

Crucet responded on Twitter: “Students at @GeorgiaSouthern literally burning my novel. This is where we are, America.”

Students at @GeorgiaSouthern literally burning my novel. This is where we are, America. https://t.co/CxhjuaBYcX

— Jennine Capó Crucet (@crucet) October 10, 2019

In a email, John Lester, vice president of communications at Georgia Southern, reportedly said “book burning does not align with Georgia Southern’s values nor does it encourage the civil discourse and debate of ideas.” 

Lester added, however, that the incident was within the student’s First Amendment rights. 

The Hill has reached out to Crucet’s representation for comment.

The student body at Georgia Southern is only 6 percent Hispanic and 63 percent white, according to government data.