The sessions' stated intention is to bring a sense of community and an awareness of one's place within that community as part of some greater good presented by the University to its students. The goals are lofty indeed. At issue is the program as it is put into practice. One publication (PDF) defines many terms including the following:
A RACIST: A racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality. By this definition, people of color cannot be racists, because as peoples within the U.S. system, they do not have the power to back up their prejudices, hostilities, or acts of discrimination. (This does not deny the existence of such prejudices, hostilities, acts of rage or discrimination.)
The University is not a very diverse community with about 84% of students of Caucasian descent. When one is presented with the statement above which indicts all white persons as "racists" what is one to think? Why are students being given any such information outside a classroom in which such subjects are being discussed and examined?
University life should represent a microcosm of society, but institutions such as the University of Delaware cannot make that representation given their student populations. Current students at U of D are in the majority not only of Caucasion descent but most come from affluent families (family incomes greater than $75,000 per year). The very idea that any such isolated institution can represent our society is unfounded in fact. Diversity is a fine thing and students do need to recognize their diverse society. But they are not likely to find the sort of diversity in an academic setting that will be encountered in the working world outside the ivy towers.
Racial interactions along with all other aspects of community are part of life. We all need to talk about and to look into those relationships. In academic live such discussions are a proper part of a classroom given the right subject under study. But are discussions about statements such as the one above proper for a discussion group in a dormitory? And should the students in the group be expected to subscribe in any way, form or fashion to such a statement? I submit both the subject is wrong for the circumstance and the statement is egregious in its form and content.
I am a white man and cannot change that fact. I am personally insulted by the statement quoted above. I submit the University has a responsibility to withdraw immediately all materials of the sort exemplified above. The entire program as represented by the various printed materials needs a full review. It is my opinion the program should be ended immediately. If or not any similar program is begun in the future is a question to be answered another time.
The University and its administration need to take a long and hard look at this diversity training program. Perhaps there are elements of good within the founding principles, but the current program must end and end today. There is no good to be obtained from the sort of indoctrination this program proposes.
Postscript: The University has announced an end to the current program with a review to follow. My reservations as to the current program remain steadfast. Whatever program may or may not be instituted in the future should not include any measures of literature such as that quoted above.
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9 comments:
Universities of every sort have a responsibility to educate their students. The University of Delaware is a public institution and as such has no place offering the sort of material presented in this diversity program.
Peace. Jerry
I think diversity programs are a good idea. I think, however, they should not be propaganda and they should not be offenseive bull. What you've quoted is both. What might have been a truer statement would have been that, in a racist society, ALL are racists.
Race continues to be a huge problem in this country, and will be until we as a human population can reach the point where we all see each other as humans first. I don't think we are anywhere near that point yet, and the suffering of the black community, which takes the brunt of economic difficulty, educational deprivation, community abandonment, voter suppression and oppressive policing, shows this all too clearly.
So I would make two points about the materials you discuss: one is that intellectually, if they are like what you discuss, they are idiotic. Two is that morally they appear to be an obvious attempt to put a bandaid over the real problem, which is lack of diversity in the school population. We have the same problem at the state university in the town where I live. The tuition is not affordable for the poor of the state, many of whom are white, but who are disproportionately black.
Enhancement of educational opportunity MUST be a government priority. We must remember that when poverty stunts educational opportunity, for people of any race, the Nation, the community as a whole, loses opportunity - for whatever that wasted human talent could have offered society.
fillip,
I will agree that diversity discussions and awareness training are important. These lessons become even more important on a college campus with little population diversity.
Reading the full materials is at least as scary as the one bit I chose to highlight, and the overall program seems to be more one of indoctrination than one of discussion and reasoning.
One of the worst parts of the program is the attendant population. Freshman at the University are required to live on campus. These are the very students for whom the program is designed. Just away from home and whatever support may have been found there, and into a world in which ideas seem more to be impressed than offered.
The full story of this program is not yet told. There are many facets and many different opinions around the state. Not all are in agreement. The printed materials in terms of course and discuss outline are beyond disagreement. That any statement like the one I chose is offered in a public institution is beyond any measure of acceptance in a civilized society.
Peace. Jerry
I could see it offered in, say, a range of ways of defining racism, as an extremist view of a certain type.
But as a model view? It's heinous. And if the rest is like that, it must be scary reading indeed.
But diversity training is no substitute for actual diversity.
Where I went to school, the stated principle of the admissions committee was that diversity is PART of a good educational experience, an inherent part.
I agree with that.
fillip,
Diversity is an integral part of our society today. Any move by a large state supported university to encourage campus diversity gets my support.
The trouble we have in so much of our country today is only a privileged class of people can afford any college let alone a real university. We need to change our educational system in ways that allow all qualified students a chance to attend these universities. Then we might begin to see diversity in action in education. Maybe that would be a step toward real unification in our diverse society.
Take one more terrible quote out of the documents cited: "...if you are talking about the United States, racism and white supremacy are synonomous."
There are parts of the document which are not so far removed from reason. But the parts that draw attention are too far out of mainstream thought or fact to be considered reasonable.
Jerry
Wait, racism and white supremacy are synonymous, but racism and black supremacy (which does exist) are not? I remember watching the movie Colors in the theater - this was in the eighties. The entire back of the audience was black youngsters, and when there was a fight scene between a white guy and a black guy, they started chanting "TOO BLACK, TOO STRONG, TOO BLACK, TOO STRONG!"
Was that not racism? That wasn't just racism, that was an attempt to intimidate and frighten every white person in the theater. It verged on a hate crime.
Now, has the program you are talking about pointed out that American History is as much about slavery as it is about freedom, as much about poverty and exploitation as it is about equality and opportunity, as much about genocide and empire as it is about peace and prosperity, I think it would have had a point. And maybe that's what they meant. But based on what you have been quoting, it certainly isn't what they said.
fillip,
The program is not a real course in history. There is no mention of the past in the materials I have seen. The entire public protest has to do with that failure. There is no balance. There is no real room for discussion. There are black and white decisions to be made by students who are then not allowed to qualify their decisions. Much needs to change before the program is allowed to continue.
Peace. Jerry
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