Reference no: EM132088369

During fall semester 2001 instructor Page Nelson held two teaching jobs at the campus of Holy Names College (HNC) in Oakland. He taught 30 hours per week in a non-college course, English As a Second Language (ELS), as an employee of English Language Services (ELS), a subsidiary of Berlitz. ELS has a rented office, classroom and dormitory space on the HNC campus for 35 years. Their services come in handy for foreign students who attend the ELS program (separate from HNC’s), but they accept all types of students. Page also taught two regular college courses—an ESL Reading and Writing class and Professional Writing –as am employee of HNC, a college of about 1000-1400 students. Page received his master degree in English Literature there a few years ago. Two of the approximately 45 students in the ELS program were Arabs, a Saudi Arabian, Ibrahim (Bob), who was 19 years old, and Hamid, a Catholic seminarian, who was about 30 years old. No Arab forging students were enrolled at HNC. Bod has been studying English in the US for a year and had adapted quite well to American Culture. He liked to be called Bob and was popular with other students. A couple of days after 9-11, Bob was having dinner in the campus cafeteria. Player X, a member of the basketball team, approached Bob and asked him what he thought about the World Trade Center attack. Bob replied that “it was a very bad thing.” What happened next is unclear, but apparently Player X became enraged, called Bob a liar, attacked him with racial insults, and finally was pulled back by someone of his teammates. No one came to Bobs defense or said anything to him, and although many students witnessed the encounter, no one officially reported it. Bobs reaction was to withdraw to his room for the next three weeks. He became depressed and when outside was generally alone. His main support came from his friends among former ELS students now studying at Bay Area colleges. None of his American friends came forward. It took more than three weeks for him to arrange his return home to Saudi Arabia. Hearing about the attack and not seeing Bob in the classroom area, Page became concerned. The assurance of the ELS Center Director Steve Shinn that Bob was feeling Ok and everything was under control did not convince Page. He felt that Bob needed much more support, including the ability to discuss his feelings in Arabic. Page asked Hamid to talk with Bob. Hamid later reported that Bob said, “I can’t stay here anymore, when there are people who hate me just because I’m Arab. I feel alone and abandoned.” Bob feared for his safety and his life. Later Page encouraged Bob to report the incident, but Bob refused. As an Arab, he believed that it was the host’s duty to see to the comfort and security of the guest. To suggest that the guest, Bob, should take the lead in securing justice for himself was a culturally impossible idea. He believed that it was up to the school authorities to do something about such situations. It should be noted that, even without the strong cultural element, male victims often dismiss the severity of their situations out of a misplaced sense of pride. At an ELS staff meeting five days after Bob was attacked, Page asked ELS Center Director, Steve Shinn, what he has been doing about Bobs situation. Steve said, “I’ve been assured by HNC administrators that the matter will be handled to our satisfaction.” Remembering how these very people had ignored a mini-crime wave of campus thefts and robberies a few years ago, Page responded that “such assurances from them are B.S.” Meanwhile Page was interviewed by the FBI, as were administrators of ELS and HNC, about another former student. The terrorist who piloted the plane that crashed into the Pentagon had been tentatively identified. Apparently, he had been one of Pages’ students in an ELS class four years earlier. In fact 18 months ago he had applied for a second round of ELS lessons but never showed up for classes. It was possible he had merely used the ELS application as a ruse to enter the United States again. So far, this information has not appeared in the news media. At the time, everyone who previously had any contact with any of the terrorists was under a cloud of suspicion. Back to the Bob-Player X situation, Page Nelson was the only person who took any action to address it. Here are some actions that he took: A week after the ELS staff meeting, the end of September, Page wrote a letter to the Chair of Board of Trustees of HNC. He mentioned the need to avoid “moral cowardice” and proposed that the administration take action to: a) identify Player X, b) counsel with him, c) arrange a meeting of Bob and Player X in the President’s office to negotiate mutual understanding and healing, and d) formulate a non-hate, tolerance policy for the campus and distribute it to everyone. With the College President’s permission, Page wrote an open letter to Player X, which a student passed on to him. Page offered to serve as an intermediary to heal the rift and to counsel with both parties. Page had his students write proposed non-hate and tolerance policies for the college Page also created “hate-free zone” posters and put them around his office and class area. 1. What surface problems do you notice? 2. What are the underlying root problems? 3. What could Page have done differently to be more effective? 4. What should the ESL and HNC officials have done?