Each day, University senior Josué Peña-Juarez carries more with him than meets the eye. He walks tall, brown glasses over his dark eyes, smile on his face as he immerses himself into everyday University culture.
The San Diego native grew up primarily speaking Spanish at home and received a bilingual education at school. Peña-Juarez said he constantly felt comfortable, surrounded by other students of color and other native Spanish speakers.
Then, at 10 years old, Peña-Juarez – who does not consider himself a minority, but a person of color – moved with his family to Corvallis. Uprooted from his home, Peña-Juarez said he experienced the cultural shock of a lifetime.
“We moved in the middle of winter,” Peña-Juarez said. “I was forced to speak English; there was no one who looked like me. There was no one to speak Spanish with, so I spoke English.” Peña-Juarez identifies most with being Chicano, in terms of social, political and cultural consciousness, he said.
“It’s taking that identity with you wherever you go,” Peña-Juarez said.
Still, he said diversity on campus continues to be an issue.
“I’m still one of the few brown kids,” he said.
When he arrived at the University, Peña-Juarez took some ethnic studies courses that changed his perspective so much he decided to major in the field.
During his first year at the University, Peña-Juarez joined Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), a student group on campus that aims to provide a community and a home away from home for Chicano and Chicana students on campus. He served as the MEChA intern at the ASUO under the multicultural advocate. During his time there, he noticed some faculty and staff who worked on the Diversity Plan seemed to oppose certain issues.
The University began drafting a five-year Diversity Plan in 2005 to diversify faculty within each department. When it was first introduced, the plan caused some controversy among faculty. It requires departments and units on campus to implement individual plans in an effort to strengthen the overall campus climate. The University adopted the plan in May 2006.
Peña-Juarez remembers strong opposition from the economics department in drafting the plan.
“They made our problems seem micro,” Peña-Juarez said.
He added that he doesn’t feel the University engages in enough of a discussion about diversity.
“It’s an issue that’s not talked about directly: racism, sexism, patriarchy, all the ‘isms,’” he said. “They aren’t spoken about as critical issues. People want to put on a face that we’re past that. And all students and faculty do is celebrate diversity.”
University senior Diego Hernandez said that as he listened to economics professor Bill Harbaugh opposeing the Diversity Plan, he felt shocked and hurt by many of the comments.
However, in an e-mail interview last month, Harbaugh said he opposes the Diversity Plan because it does not address the issues that are most relevant on campus. Harbaugh said he is concerned about the plan because the University has “diverted money and attention from the real problems.”
He elaborated that a good diversity plan would begin by addressing the problem at hand and focusing on how to attract more students to the University in an effort to benefit new students as well as the entire University.
“We are a public university in a state with a large population of low-income families where college enrollment is not part of the culture,” Harbaugh wrote. “Some of these children are white, some African-American, and a growing number are Hispanic. We need to figure out how to get more of these kids in college.”
Emilio Hernandez, the assistant vice provost for the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity, said University faculty and administrators need to step in and allow time for dialogue in the classroom. Hernandez stressed the importance of encouraging open and honest communication among students.
“I feel it can be a teachable moment for all students, not just students of color,” Emilio Hernandez said. “We need to show some respect honored with a good dialogue, even if it takes a professor off topic for one day.”
Diego Hernandez said he learned to assimilate into the predominantly white culture of Oregon when he realized most of his peers in classes were white. Still, he remains hopeful that during his college career he will educate himself and others as much as possible.
“It’s important to take into consideration that inequalities still exist,” Diego Hernandez said. “It’s not as simplistic as just skin color. Also, people who aren’t multicultural students are not the enemy. We all have the potential of being allies if we understand we all come from different levels. These structures of power are complex.”
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