An African-American student was recently walking down the street when a young boy yelled “nigger” out the window of a passing bus.
Graduate student Lori Jenkins sat in class looking through her textbook when she read that blacks and Hispanics were the push for welfare.
Rachel Morales was sitting in her living room watching a videotaped lecture for class when she heard her professor say it’s a fact that blacks have a lower IQ than whites.
This is 2002, right?
I’ve heard things in the past few weeks that made me ashamed to be part of this University. And I’ve heard some other things that make me ashamed because I hadn’t noticed it sooner.
At last week’s forum (see Page 1) I was overwhelmed by the emotion in that small room in the basement of Payson Smith. There was frustration. There was sadness. And there was rage.
“I’m angry I have to explain to a 23-year-old student why there shouldn’t be a staff meeting on MLK day,” said Jenkins during the forum. “How many of our students know anything about the world besides Canada and Cancun, Mexico? Why is it I don’t want to go to half of my classes? Because I don’t want to deal with it.”
Her voice was shaking as she spoke, yet she exuded a desperate confidence. It was as if she had gone over the words in her head a hundred times before, just waiting for the right time to vent her frustration. Apparently, the forum was the right time.
There were common themes among all the students there. They were tired of being teachers. Tired of having to help students and faculty discard their ignorance. Tired of being asked to represent the entire African continent. Just tired.
The University needs to take responsibility for educating its faculty, staff and students. Its failure to do so is interfering with many students’ basic right to an education.
There’s no excuse for that. Especially when it can be avoided.
It’s good that the University began offering diversity sensitivity training for its faculty and staff. But the sessions are not mandatory for faculty.
Apparently, it’s no coincidence that most of the complaints are coming from inside the classroom. If professors don’t understand it’s not OK to single out students because they have a different skin color, then somebody needs to tell them. Soon.
This isn’t about being politically correct. It’s about allowing students to feel safe and comfortable sitting in class.
Last week’s forum was good because it brought all these issues into clear view. And in three weeks the school year will be over and it will likely be forgotten.
The University has been making some progress in this area. But admittedly, there’s a lot more it can do.
Right now there are people watching. Last week’s forum was covered by three of the local television networks and the state’s largest daily paper.
Everyone seems concerned about this issue. So the time to get something done is now.
It makes sense to require all students to take at least one class in multiculturalism. Other schools do it. It makes sense to require all faculty to take the diversity training, instead of simply “strongly encouraging” them to do so. And it makes sense to have more diversity represented in the search committees for new faculty and staff.
Things can be changed. And they can be changed now. It’s rare to come upon times like these when the world is watching and waiting to see what happens.
The Vice President for Student Development Craig Hutchinson told me he’s been hearing the same sort of concerns since the late 70s. How many more decades will it take before something is actually done that will work?
I urge the students behind the forum to bring their list of complaints directly to the president. Bring him a list of things that can be done now. Don’t let him tell you he’ll consider it or form a committee to look at it. Use this momentum to your advantage.
And it might help to call Channel 8 and the Press Herald before you go.