The Loaded Silence

The grey-blue carpet fades into the grey-green walls which in turn seem to slowly absorb a bumbling speaker swathed in a grey-brown three piece tweed suit. Maybe this blurring is caused by the lack of fresh air or by the obligation to sit still and silent for hours on end, but most elements that constitute an academic conference tend to blend into each other in such a way, leaving the conferees with an indistinct impression of their day – with the exception of one’s own presentation, of course.

Yet, there is usually one aspect that stands out as the hallmark of each event, no matter how uniform. Whether it’s the utter incompetence or the dazzling charisma of a speaker, the quality of the catering or finding out that someone else is writing on what you thought was YOUR topic, these elements of surprise are usually one of the redeeming values of the academic conference.

It’s with this thought that I coaxed myself out of bed at 6h a.m. on Monday morning to take a train that would lead me to one such event. I didn’t have to wait very long to be shocked as the first speaker, an elderly professor leaning on the lectern for actual support more than for dramatic effect, referred to “negroes” as a “minority group often the target of disgust”.

I believe that my jaw fell to my knees at the utterly racist turn that his paper was taking. There was a light rustling sound likely to have been caused by the cringing discomfort of a room full of academics confronted by a politically incorrect statement issued by a peer.

When the speaker stopped reading and the question period started, any mention of the slur was carefully avoided, so carefully in fact that nobody spoke. Perhaps nobody dared add to the significant discomfort that was already felt, but after a few seconds of loaded silence, it was obvious that only the lectern was still supporting him.