A senseless diversity drama is playing out on the campus of Columbia University, and student Stephen Snowder offers a critical review.

All right Columbia, it’s time to have a talk. None of you are going to listen to me, but I’m out of here in 30 days(ish) so I don’t care.

Yesterday in Spec, there was an article about a play that no one saw but everyone is mad about. The play, called “Top Girls,” included a scene, a fantasy sequence, featuring an Asian character. That Asian character was portrayed in the play by a white woman.

Are there, potentially, problems with this? Sure there are. We should talk about those problems. I’m not sweeping any of this under the rug. But the way some on campus have chosen to talk about this issue has not been helpful.

…Yellowface was not used, at any time, in any scene, in “Top Girls.” A white woman portrayed an Asian woman. She wore a kimono, and her hair was in braids. There may be problems with this, but this is not yellowface. Starting a dialogue about an issue that is this sensitive by mischaracterizing the facts of what actually happened is irresponsible.

This happens all the time on this campus — students exaggerate or deliberately misinterpret the remarks and actions of their opponents to make it easier to portray them as wrong. I wrote an article about this once before. My article was, utterly unsurprisingly, deliberately misinterpreted.

Are we really to the point where we can’t even give each other the benefit of the doubt? If someone does something that seems like it might be racist, should I immediately assume that person is racist? When did we reach the stage in our college careers when nothing we do is allowed to be a mistake? When every action we take is imbued with deep meaning, a window into our secret hearts?

Give me a break. I haven’t seen the play. I don’t know the director. But I’d be willing to bet a large amount of money that she is not racist. Racism still exists, and it’s a horrible thing. But casting a white woman to play a heroic Asian character and dressing that white woman in a kimono to play the part is not evidence of racism. It’s, at most, evidence of insensitivity. It’s perhaps a dumb decision. It’s something we should talk about so that everyone understands why this sort of thing is not a good idea.

Talk becomes impossible, however, when we insist on believing the worst about the people we’re criticizing. When you call the director a racist, it makes sense for her to say to herself, “I know I’m not a racist, so these critics must be unreasonable.” Dialogue dies right then and there.