Column:

Diversity issues deserve to be addressed

By Jordan Paul

Published March 5, 2010

I'm going to offer an additional consideration regarding the incident that occurred at the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center last week.

If you haven't heard, students awoke Friday morning to cotton balls strewn across the entrance to the BCC. Nearly every response has lambasted the perpetrators to the point of oblivion, which is not only justified but also expected.

However, few of the respondents have examined the incident beyond the normal rounds of "we-will-not-tolerate-this" and "we-will-not-be-silent." Although these proclamations are important, they do little to examine deeper currents.

Let's take a moment to reflect on why the instigators did what they did last week. It's probably safe to say they intended the incident to either be a source of sordid humor or to inspire anger. It was probably carried out in ignorance, though there is a chance these folks fully knew the ramifications of their actions.

Either way, it should seem odd such an incident would occur at a place such as MU, which allegedly sets a high premium on embracing multiculturalism. Although I think MU truly believes in enhancing diversity, I think it performs poorly in a few critical areas.

In response to the situation at hand, I'd like to focus on the education of the student body when it comes to diversity-related affairs.

How many times have you heard a white student sarcastically inquire, "Where is the White Culture Center?"

There are simple responses to questions like this that make the situation better for everyone, even if one does not necessarily believe the rationale behind them.

For instance, in response to the origins of the BCC, which is the true question behind the sarcasm, it literally only takes a minute or two to explain our campus used to be significantly more hostile to minorities than is the case in the status quo, hence the desire for a safe space that ultimately manifested itself in the form of a black culture center.

I mean, how many students are aware we had a lynching in Columbia in the 20th century and played "Dixie" at home football games as late as the '60s? Students shouldn't be expected to intuitively know these things. However, far too often, when an uninformed student raises these questions, either no one can answer the question or the student is treated dismissively.

I somewhat understand this reaction to the questioning student from average students, but when this response comes from student leaders, which occurs on a regular basis, it is completely unacceptable.

Not only is the cycle of ignorance perpetuated, but the inquiring person might have had their view validated by being disregarded. Although I have focused on the example of the BCC, this dynamic -- a failure to offer a legitimate explanation to an inquiring non-minority student -- happens in an incredibly high number of cases related to the diversity movement.

Personally, I think a variety of diversity-focused entities, including administrative units, such as the Multicultural Center, and student groups, such as Four Front, ought to invest more time in education and outreach to the student body.

I attended Four Front on a regular basis and interacted with its leadership for more than a year while I was the Missouri Students Association president, and I never really got the impression they were particularly effective when it came to this matter.

I'm not trying to discredit the fine work they do in other areas, such as helping minority students feel more welcome on campus and offering a wide array of diversity-oriented programming, but I've found the education of non-minorities on issues related to diversity particularly lacking over the years.

Moreover, it seems, more frequently students do not assume diversity has inherent value, or, if they do, they don't really know why. It's important to address this issue, because it is the failure to address this area that leads to incidents such as the events of last Friday. I'm certainly not condoning the actions of the perpetrators in question, but this facet is frequently neglected in the aftermath of racist incidents.

We, as leaders, can do a better job.