I can say this with absolute certainty: True diversity cannot be superimposed on a place. It can’t be required of people; and for it to ever exist in any real sense at this University, it’s going to have to grow roots in some historically and demographically infertile soil. In case you haven’t noticed yet, Oregon is completely filled with white people. It’s the whitest state in the nation; a veritable desert for the cultivation of diversity.
It’s going to be extremely difficult to ever realize diversity on this campus with a diversity plan.
Diversity does not exist in numbers, or student groups or scheduled social events. It exists in interaction, communication, in conflict and resolution. You can’t impose a plan on students that will foster diversity. The students have to foster diversity themselves. To me, this seems obvious.
I’ve had my eyes on this school for quite some time now; more in the Orwellian sense than the prospective. I’ve seen what goes on; seen the different types of students that populate our wooded and beautifully manicured sanctuary of academia. There’s definitely a wide range of white people jostling around here on any given day; all the way from the trust-fund, banjo-playing anarchists, to the bubble-bronzed girls in jean skirts outside Lillis.
There are students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds at this school, but from my observations, there’s not a lot of cross-racial socialization going on. From black to Hispanic, from Asian to native American, from pacific islander to white; we’re all represented at the University. But black students largely hang out with other black students; white students with other white students. Asian exchange students hang out with Asian exchange students and Hawaiians socialize with Hawaiians. Each of our racial demographics on campus talks only amongst themselves. But they’re all here, so, there’s diversity, right?
Not even close. While all the ingredients are here for us to scramble ourselves into a multicultural omelet of diversity, the truth is that we don’t actually want to. In theory, we say we do, but that’s not what we’ve shown in practice. We like to follow the path of least resistance; in our education and in our social lives.
The racial and cultural populations on campus are segregated and isolated by their own choice. The numbers can be there, but if diversity is ever going to grow and flourish in this desert, we’ve got a lot of watering and tilling to do. We’ve got to stir things up, venture away from our comfort zones and social circles. We’ve got to get beyond pointing fingers and harboring resentment about race issues. We have to start talking to each other openly and with less judgment. Now.
University faculty, you are the only ones who can effectively facilitate this dialogue. The students aren’t doing it well. If diversity, in the true sense, not the numeric sense, is ever going to take hold at the University, it will begin in the classroom, in the discussion and exploration of academic ideas. Demand more from your students and the university’s diversity goals will be better realized.
Instructors need to make students speak in class. They need to require it in grading. They should cold-call, ask questions and push students out of their comfort zones of complacency in the classroom. When students are forced to challenge themselves and engage in discussion is when they grow, develop and open their minds up to new ideas and conversations. When we are required to articulate our own thoughts and ideas, we spark the minds of others and cultivate the ground for the ideals of a diverse campus to actually take hold.
Being comfortably silent in class makes school easier, but it makes achieving a diverse campus more difficult. Students can do the readings, write papers and attend office hours a couple times to get by, but the communal element of their education fails in that silence. That communal element in the classroom is what will help diversity on campus. When students from different racial and cultural backgrounds begin to engage in more rigorous classroom discussion, they become more adept at speaking to one another across the perceived boundaries that hinder true diversity on campus.
It takes practice and time. It’s uncomfortable at first, especially for those who never speak up in class. But it is the most effective way to breed cross-cultural and cross-racial understanding among students. I’d strongly encourage instructors to take the lead and stimulate more rigorous discussion in class. Make it mandatory, get people to start talking, to start communicating outside of their isolated circles. The classes I’ve learned and grown the most from at this University have been the classes in which I’ve been least comfortable, knowing that I had to contribute something worthwhile to the discussion. If this type of communication starts inside the classroom, it will spill out across the rest of campus soon after.