Life is not fair. Some things and some people are more important than others. University of Oregon students, faculty, staff and administration know this. We all know this. But many of us would like to make the world a little fairer during our brief lives. After graduating, we aspire to bring good design to the impoverished, to help the disadvantaged become entrepreneurs, to represent those without options in court and to advocate policies that will combat environmental racism. Ask people on campus, and most will tell you they would like more justice, more equity, in the world. Right?
We are saying, to ourselves and to each other: We like fairness. We are a fair institution.
We teach our students to believe in and work for justice.
In fact, the University’s mission statement claims: “a commitment to undergraduate education, with a goal of helping the individual learn to question critically, think logically, communicate clearly, act creatively, and live ethically” — and— “a dedication to the principles of equality of opportunity and freedom from unfair discrimination for all members of the University community and an acceptance of true diversity as an affirmation of individual identity within a welcoming community.”
But pedagogy is not limited to mission statements or class content. Our words say we honor fairness, but what do our actions say? Through its actions and its choices, the University transmits a multitude of implicit messages to students every second, wittingly or unwittingly. For instance, why are the facilities for the business and law schools so much nicer than those for the humanities and social sciences? Consider the athletics program and what the University is telling us about the relative importance of student-athletes as compared to mere students. What is the University teaching its students about fairness by opening the opulent John E. Jaqua Academic Center for student athletes while many students are learning in buildings that are moldering eyesores? What do these and all other choices made by the administration tell students about who is important and who is not?
The world outside the University is a grossly unfair place, and to a large degree the inequity that exists within the University merely reflects the inequity that exists without.
Lawyers and business people earn (and donate) more money than English and history teachers, and so their respective educational facilities reflect this disparity. This makes sense, but it doesn’t get the University off the hook. If the University really is committed to equality (as the mission statement says), then we should not just passively reflect the injustice of the outside world, but seek to exemplify a more just place.
If we hope to educate citizens who envision a fairer world, we must first have the vision — and the will — to make the University itself a fairer place. And not just in word, but in deed.
We need to give students an example of a place where “equality of opportunity” actually means something.
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For University, actions speak louder than words
Daily Emerald
January 12, 2010
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