Term ‘diversity’ masks core issues of racism; university must foster respectful climate

On Tuesday night, a collection of student organizations held a town-hall-style meeting to discuss the perception of students of color on campus. Much of the forum was couched in the safe word “diversity,” rather than addressing the reality of racism that students of color face. In a forum on race, it doesn’t make sense to talk about diversity to a room mostly full of people of color. Though well-intentioned, unfortunately, the conversation deteriorated into victim-blaming. For instance, many students brought up the issue of “self-segregation,” and encouraged each other to meet and talk with people they normally wouldn’t.

Not only does this put people in the position of being “native informants,” but it doesn’t question why many students feel the need to self-segregate in the first place. Despite conventional belief, racism manifests itself in more ways than just explicit verbal hatred. Often times it expresses itself in passive-aggressive micro-aggressions. For example, students recounted classroom experiences where professors and other students commented on how surprised they were that they were “well-spoken.” The implication here is that it is somehow unusual or abnormal for students of color to coherently express their ideas. These aren’t problems of diversity, they are problems of racism. It must be understood that incidents like these are not isolated events; they are reoccurring situations students of color must constantly navigate at predominately white institutions. At the institutional level, what are black students to make of the slew of crime alert emails that use extremely vague descriptions like “male, black, early 20s, no further description” that clearly rely on old tropes of criminalized black masculinity? Is it any wonder that in dealing with these dehumanizing occurrences on a constant basis, students of color want to be among people who celebrate and affirm their dignity and humanity?

By no means is this an attempt to shame or chastise the hard work and effort that students put into this program. We bring these points up to suggest that the university take an active and consistent role in implementing institutional solutions to fight what is not always a safe, and often times a hostile, environment for students of color. It is incumbent upon the university to not only foster an educational climate where the dignity of students of color is championed and respected, but more importantly, the university must also be fiercely anti-racist.

Seth E. Davis, PhD candidate in Composition and Cultural Rhetoric ‘15
Nikeeta Slade, master’s student in Pan-African Studies, ’13