Enforcing Diversity

I'm back once again, and it's time now to look at an article from the Daily Orange. It's about how to handle diversity and bias on the Syracuse campus. That's about all the introduction I can think of. Check it out:

Students, faculty debate controversial issues at MLK Jr. Symposium

Syracuse University has been touted as "No Place for Hate," but given the recent attacks on minority students...

As far as I know, this refers to a single attack on a homosexual student. I'm not sure if there have been others.

...use of blackface and offensive language on white boards, it appears to be anything but.

Because 3 incidents are representative of the attitudes of 15,000 students.

Sunday's Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium in Watson Theater addressed this issue and questioned the lack of diversity training for students.

Why don't they just call it "indoctrination?" That's basically what it is.

"The notion of a requirement immediately seizes the discussion," said Daniel Holliman, a political science professor. Holliman's research interests include the politics of institutional change in American higher education.

"Seizes the discussion?" That terminology makes me nervous.

"Diversity is seen as a problem to be managed rather than as an opportunity," he said.

Is that supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing? I'm really not sure what this guy's trying to say.

Holliman wants the university to assume its responsibility for implementing diversity training - he says current initiatives are not enough.

The university is not responsible for telling people what to think. It's responsible for telling them HOW to think. It's society's job to create the proper attitudes.

"Yes, we have the largest MLK celebration with the number of people on the Dome floor," he said of Saturday's dinner and speech, which about 2,000 people attended. "But you can't eat your way to social justice."

Let's review: 3 bias related incidents mean that diversity training is needed, but 2,000 people attending an event celebrating diversity means nothing. My brain hurts.

Quay Winfield, member of the Student Environmental Action Coalition, believes that diversity instruction should be a requirement for all students.

How do you instruct diversity? Shouldn't it be obvious when you see it?

"They have Writing 105 classes because writing is a very important skill, and you have to learn how to write," Winfield said.

And your point is...what? Are you assuming that diversity can't be learned? Or have evil white males like me just corrupted the system so much that diversity doesn't occur naturally anymore?

Methods to incorporate diversity into the curriculum must be explored, political science professor Dale Tussing argued.

It's already in the friggin' curriculum. My psychology textbook has a section about considering multiculturalism in psychological studies.

"I think students are ahead of the faculty with respect to diversity," he said.

Then make the faculty take indoctrination classes and leave us alone, dang it.

"Diversity should be an integral part of a whole lot of courses. It is not something you accommodate by having a major in women's studies or African-American studies."

How is diversity not part of classes? How do you even put diversity into some classes?

"Look, the text in this book is in 5 different colors. That's an example of diversity!"

Ajua Kouadio, president of the Student African-American Society, insisted that growing up in a homogeneous neighborhood is not an excuse for bigotry or ignorance. She grew up in a predominantly black community.

"Not only am I not acting that way," she said, "I can't use that as an excuse." She stressed that students must find ways to understand racism and deal with oppressed groups.

If I see any racism on campus, which I haven't, I'll know how to deal with it. By the way, if they do institute diversity training, they should make sure it includes a section on how to pronouce names like "Ajua Kouadio."

In the open question-and-answer segment of the symposium, several audience members called for a zero-tolerance policy on bias incidents - these incidents would automatically lead to expulsion.

This is what the world is coming to. People are so fanatical about diversity that they'd be willing to expel someone for having the wrong attitude. That's dangerous thinking. I see a slippery slope on the horizon.

"You can't look at bias incidents as one type of act," said Juanita Perez Williams, director of Judicial Affairs. Williams distinguishes between threats in which there is a risk to the safety of an individual and less-violent incidents, such as offensive white-board messages.

Punishment for threats and violence shouldn't depend on the motivation or content. If someone is assaulted, who cares if they're a minority? The important thing is THEY WERE ASSAULTED.

The same goes for threats. A message like "I'm gonna kill you, n***er" should be punished the same as "I'm gonna kill you, f**ker." The offensive word shouldn't determine the punishment.

"As an educational institution," she said, "there is a place for education."

Thank you, Captain Obvious, for pointing out that educational institutions should educate. Who knew?

The discussion also touched on national events, such as the fight against poverty.

"What we've done is to pretend that skills training programs are a way to end poverty," Tussing said. "We focus on the inadequacies of the individual rather than the economy."

That's just wrong. Skills training programs are a great way to end poverty, but the people have to get JOBS first. By focusing on the inadequacies of the individual, we correct them. That leads to job creation, which improves the economy.

The economy isn't going to change if you keep throwing money at people with no skills. In any case, the economy is dependent on the performance of individuals, so you're focusing on them eventually anyway.

Tussing insists there have been no initiatives or discussion on the issue in the last 30 years.

*cough* WELFARE *cough*

Holliman provided statistics that highlighted rising disparities between classes. In 1979, he said, members of the richest 25 percent of American homes were four times more likely than those in the bottom 25 percent to attend college. The richest 25 percent are now 15 times more likely to attend college, he said. There has been a 50 percent decrease in level of financial aid that students receive since the 1970s, he added.

So, according to his logic, we should continue trying to correct economic problems rather than personal problems, even though that's what we've been doing all this time and it hasn't worked. This is a lot like people who think that gun laws decrease violence, even though they've been proven not to.

"Because there isn't a national leader (for the black community)," Kouadio said, "(that) doesn't mean there isn't a national movement. More important is that you have people on the ground rather than an image."

Is there a national leader for any racial community? I didn't get the memo about that.

This notion is applicable to leadership on a campus level, Winfield said - students draw on individual strengths and capabilities when involved in activism.

Many see activism as crucial to introducing changes, such as diversity training, at Syracuse University.

Here comes the diversity training again. It seems to me that if so many people want diversity training, it shouldn't be necessary. Think about it.

Friggin' elitism.

"Students have the power to demand change," said Francine D'Amico, a political science professor. D'Amico recalled changes that active students and faculty put into motion - changing the Orangemen's mascot and creating an African-American studies program.

Let's pretend that the mascot and a single program are analogous to a campus-wide class requirement, children!

"You figure out what your objectives are, you make them clear and you demand them," Tussing said. "People don't make concessions because they want to, they do because they have to."

Wow. Very clearly stated. Let's force the school to force a certain worldview on others. Who said open-mindedness is a requirement for academic excellence?

This "diversity training" stuff makes me really angry. I don't understand what it would accomplish, other than making straight white males feel bad about themselves and forcing people to be "tolerant" of just about anything.

Let me explain something: I already have to spend 2 years fulfilling my liberal arts core requirements. I really don't need a "diversity requirement" on top of that. I'm in college to study screenwriting and directing, not multiculturalism.

Don't think ungood thoughts...

Posted by CD on January 20, 2004 03:33 PM
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