EXPECTING DIFFERENT RESULTS? Veil of Ignorance reports an assault (battery?) at the University of Virginia. "Last night, [deleted], a student council president candidate at the University of Virginia was assaulted while going to her car parked near the Lawn. All evidence suggests the crime was motivated by hate. At a University that has historically struggled with issues of diversity and respect, these event represent an embarrassing and shocking regression what little progress we have made"

There will be an update providing the news as I have it, sometime during tonight's expected sailing. For now let me offer a simpler explanation: some people act like jerks. Would the news be somehow less newsworthy if it were simply a disagreement over a parking spot, or an old-fashioned mugging?

"I would be a hypocrite if I attempted to represent myself as a person deeply sensitive or thoughtful with regards to diversity at the University in the past. However, events like those of the past evening only underscore the incredible deficiency of any sort of dialogue on diversity here. It calls out sentiments of justice and responsibility that we often allow to lay unexpressed"

Oh it's so groovy now, that people are finally getting together .... Have you considered the possibility that the moral relativism and nonjudgementalism that accompanies diversity initiatives creates precisely the kind of climate in which people demonstrate their transgressiveness by acting like louts?

"More than anything, I think we need a framework to approach these problems as a community. Personally, I see the events of this week, and the history of the university as deeply demonstrative of the lack of solidarity and support among members of this community. Division, complacence, and ignorance are formidable enemies." If you're familiar with Rawls, perhaps you know how to do etymology. It is no accident that "division" and "diversity" begin in the same way. And how you can speak of "this community" in the face of offices, programs, and dorm floors expressly for protected-status communities amazes me.

"With this in mind, the actions of these few assailants in no way reflect the feelings or beliefs of the University as a whole. The University stands behind Daisy as a fellow student, a member, and a friend. We will not continue to tolerate an environment of complacence in our community." Isn't the UVA the place with the honor code? Is there no way to simply shun, or expel, or imprison, or steer toward a different career, the louts in your midst?

UPDATE: Newsday report on the battery here.