Words He Can't Escape

Students at the George Mason University School of Law received a double whammy last week: First, Dean Daniel D. Polsby sent an e-mail informing them of a “special town hall meeting” scheduled for Monday where they could meet a candidate for a tenure-track job — a 22-year-old candidate who had once posted online class notes containing a racial epithet while a law student at Harvard in 2002. Then the next day, Polsby canceled the meeting, writing that the controversial would-be professor “is no longer a candidate.” —Andy Guess —Words He Can’t Escape (Inside Higher Ed)

Yet another example of the power of words — especially words posted online. I’m often amazed at how frequently students believe that something that they post online won’t or shouldn’t be found by an audience wider than their original intended readers.