Column:

Re-writing history starts in the stacks

By Erica Zucco

Published Sept. 11, 2009

If you've ever had to start a 10-page history paper the night before it's due — like I'm doing right now — you're probably familiar with the second-floor stacks at Ellis Library. There are rooms full of ceiling-high shelves of books and each room's walls are lined with old, scratched-up brown wooden desks.

The desks are old and pretty sturdy and they work well for studying, but several of them are piled with carvings and writing that essentially serve as precursors to Juicy Campus. The writings on these desks find a way to demote essentially every student into a category — to break them down and define them solely by their race or Greek chapter or sexual orientation.

I'd like to say these desks are just like the history books I'm skimming through — their stories and perpetuation of discrimination are all in the past, but things aren't perfect now. I can't go that far.

But I can say over the decades these desks have served students, MU's gone a pretty long way. Through the work and efforts of students, faculty and administrators, we've found ways to unify — and not just at football games. Today is Sept. 11, 2009, a day of remembrance, respect and service. Sometime today, take a moment to also think about the steps people have taken right here on campus to promote freedoms, embrace diversity and incite positive change.

Last year, 82 percent of students voted to include "gender identity and expression" into the Missouri Students Association constitution, urging further acceptance of all MU students. We finally have a building named after a black professor, paying due respect and attention to the black students and faculty members who have shaped MU as an academic institution. We're making progress, due to the effort of students and organizations on campus. Because of those students, a lot of the writing on those desks is no longer relevant; they're words of the past and the students who wrote them graduated years ago.

Unfortunately, some of that writing is still fresh. I can still smear some of the pencil lead with my thumb; some of the carvings change every few weeks. What this means is many students on campus still harbor vitriolic attitudes toward other students on campus — whether they are of a different race, gender, sexuality or are just affiliated with a certain organization on campus.

For whatever reasons, we're still warring with each other verbally and emotionally. It's impossible to a) uphold MU's values of "respect, responsibility, discovery and excellence," b) ensure all students feel comfortable learning and associating in the classroom or c) make sure students feel, on a basic level, safe around campus, unless we change this component of campus culture. And though I know a lot of organizations and people are working to do just that, I want to urge those who aren't to start. Check out the Hate Wall project some groups are working on this fall, or visit a Four Front meeting or join a social justice cause you care about.

It's impossible to sandpaper out some of the carvings on these desks. Some of the writing is etched on in permanent ink and is there to stay. There's no way for us to erase hurtful words or actions long passed. But what we can do today is figuratively write over those words, replacing them with encouragement and positive ideas and beliefs. If we, as students, change individually and institutionally ourselves, then those past writings will only serve as a record of the ways we have changed — not the way we are.