Has anyone had any issues before if you are color?
D2 is multiracial (though not African American) and so far has not experienced any racism or feeling “out of place” at SLO. She tries to spend time with lots of different people-- not just one self-segregated ethnic group. When we toured colleges, we noticed that lots of schools (including UCs) seemed to have friend groups of all one race. Asians all hanging out together, etc. She really does not like that and has tried join diverse clubs at SLO. So far, no problems. That is just her experience though.
D2 is obviously shocked and angry at the recent incidents and trying to be supportive of people who have experienced racism. She would not discourage anyone from coming to SLO for that reason, however-- doesn’t consider it any worse than any other school. There are hateful people in many places, especially a school as large as SLO.
Well, the recent incident, the history of similar incidents, and the administration’s apparent failure to effectively respond to them, has discouraged our daughter from attending. Perhaps she is unwilling to accept the notion that such conspicuous acts occur at most, or even many large colleges. Perhaps she is appalled because it threatens her personally (multiracial; Black/Asian/White). I’d like to believe that she would find it unacceptable even if it would not.
Because the posts on this site for this school are generally very active, as a parent, the near silence to this post, and the absence of any other posts concerning the recent national newsworthy incident, is remarkable.
@tachikawa, I don’t think I would take the silence to mean anything specific. There are plenty of reasons posters might not want to chime in.
Always disappointed in the lack of consequences to the perpetrators . And even lack of a public apology and true commitment to betterment. Only deflection, and pretending it was not all that bad.
@rgosula, lack of consequences? Every single fraternity is now on probation. The national Lambda Chi organization is reviewing the action, has suspended them and may very well pull their charter. Lambda Chi at Cal Poly will emerge as a shell of itself, if it emerges at all. The student in blackface resigned. There have been emergency town halls with students to address their concerns. I would hardly say nothing has been done.
The problem is, as asinine and repulsive as dressing in blackface is, it is protected under the first amendment. The school can’t simply expel students willy nilly, without violating their constitutional rights.
This is also in no way being apologetic for mean and stupid behavior, but this is in no way confined to Cal Poly. It is the new tribal America we live in where no one wants to validate anyone else’s perspective or concern.
@rgosula what this student did was stupid and insensitive. But, lack of consequences? He has been identified as a racist by every major news organization in the country. Every future potential employer will google his name and the first thing they will see is a picture of him in blackface. He has been completely ostracized from his college and will likely be harrassed if not physically threatened where ever he goes. He has been tried and convicted based on one picture. A lot of the outrage directed toward him is understandable, but some of it appears to be grandstanding and a bit holier than thou. I’d did some stupid things in college and I thank God there was no internet, Snapchat, or Instagram to immortalize them.
He has publicly apologized. I have no idea if he is really sincere, but he seems to be.
http://mustangnews.net/letter-to-the-editor-kyler-watkins-apologizes/
Cal Poly is not a hotbed of racism. There are of course a few ignorant students there just as at any other school. I am not sure how to eliminate any chance of this ever happening again, but apparently having 18 year olds sit through hours of diversity training (required the summer before freshman year) has not done the trick.
And now this incident has made its way to national news…
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cal-poly-blackface-no-expulsion_us_5ad0e41ee4b0edca2cb9751d
Cal Poly may not be a hotbed of racism, but it sure does seem to have a history of similar of incidents.
Also, how is it possible that not a single fraternity brother understood the significance of black face?
I assume many Frat Bros did know this was “wrong,” but just decided to ignore it. If anything positive comes out of this, its that–in the future, someone may call this behavior out, instead of ignoring it.
Found these facts from a petition that wants President Armstrong to step down.
-----------------UNDER HIS ADMINISTRATION-----------------
Fees have risen more that 60% (San Luis Obispo Tribune)
1 in 5 students in the CSU are food insecure while 1 in 10 are homeless—yet our administrations are considering a tuition increase for the second year in a row, and despirt approving massive pay increases for campus administrators over the Summer (LA Times, 2017)
A CA State Audit report singled out President Armstrong’s administration for approving executive pay raises with zero justification—at a time when many employees have not seen raises in years (LA Times, 2017)
Our Student Success Fee is the highest in the CSU system at more than $800 annually (Cal State. Fee and Revenue by Campus, 2017)
In 2017, Cal Poly was ranked among the 7 worst institutions in the United States (out of more than 600 institutions of higher learning) for Latinx student success (LA Times, 2017)
40% of Black Staff left the university in 2016 alone (New Times SLO. Cal Poly Confronts its Diversity Problem, 2016)
1 in 4 Cal Poly students have seriously considered leaving, with a majority of those cases citing a hostile campus climate among their reasoning (Cal Poly Campus Climate Survey, 2016)
The population of Black students on campus dropped under 1% with respect to the whole student population (Cal Poly Office of Diversity and Inclusivity. Cal Poly Demographics, 2014)
100% of our Cross Cultural Centers staff left the university in 2016 alone, citing Cal Poly workplace, campus, and living climates as hostile (Students for Quality Educations & Cal Poly Student Affairs)
We have the most White students on campus out of any CA higher public learning institution, despite the fact that 13 other campuses are substantially larger (New Times SLO. Cal Poly confronts Its Diversity Problem, 2016)
Tenure-line faculty density has dropped to just 60%—forcing nearly half of Cal Poly’s faculty into uncertain, underpaid, and exploitive labor conditions (California Faculty Association, San Luis Obispo)
Cal Poly faculty remain one of the whitest, least diverse groups of educators in the state of CA (Cal Poly Factbook, 2014)
The University Police Department expanded its operations to include the militarized policing of peaceful student protest, including up to 1 mile off campus (University Police, San Luis Obispo Tribune. Cal Poly, CSU spend $55,400 on security for Yiannopoulos speech, 2017)
There is a continued discrepancy and disrespect for the rights of free speech of protestors vs. that of white supremacists, nazis, and/or fascists on campus (Students for Quality Education; Queer Student Union)
That sounds like a bunch of cherry picked SJW ■■■■■■■■■. There’s nothing wrong with having a so-called “non-diverse” campus. There’s more to diversity than just a skin color. Last time I checked a diverse views and train of thoughts also qualify. I wouldn’t be surprised if those “Queer” students considered everything that they didn’t agree with White supremacist/Nazi/Fascist.
That screed sent to President Armstrong is filled with disinformation.
You may want to look at the actual documents that are referred to in the CSU survey that is referenced in the LA Times article. The 1/10 homeless number seems ridiculous on its face so I went to the original “study”. It was based on an online survey of students at Cal State LONG BEACH. It had an abysmal response rate of 21% and its definition of “homeless” included sleeping on a friends couch FOR AS LITTLE AS ONE NIGHT in the last 12 months. There is zero control for selection bias (i.e. those willing to take the time to fill out an online survey at CSULB may not be representative of the CSU population in general). This is propaganda; not science.
Similarly the Cal Poly Campus Survey you refer to has a similarly low response rate which leads to similar issues with selection bias. And cherry picking the worst aspects of an already flawed study is, again, propaganda and not truth seeking. Here is the conclusion from the actual survey:
“The Cal Poly campus climate findings are consistent with those found in higher education institutions across the country based on the work of R&A Consulting.For example, 70% to 80% of respondents in similar reports found the campus climate to be “comfortable” or “very comfortable”; 80% of respondents in the Cal Poly survey reported that they were “comfortable” or “very comfortable” with the climate at Cal Poly.” Translation: Cal Poly is not hotbed of intolerance. Its not perfect, but is no better or worse than similar colleges.
https://content-calpoly-edu.s3.amazonaws.com/campusclimate/1/images/CampusClimateFullReport.pdf
One CSU campus will always be “the most white” and one will always be “the least white”. How this indicts one campus or the other as racist is beyond me. Is the campus that has the most white students, BY DEFINITION, racist?
I agree less money should be spent on administration and more on tenured faculty positions. I agree all cases of racist behavior should be investigated and punished (and not tried in the court of social media where guilt is presumed before any investigation is done). But, I do not agree that one should discredit a university that is 99% composed of very tolerant students and faculty with a campaign if disinformation, ad hominem attacks, and mob justice.
Lastly, let us not pretend that those agitating for “justice” are all disinterested parties. There is an entire diversity industry that seeks to make thing to be out worse than they really are. There is an army of psychologists, sociologists, and professors who feed at the diversity trough with their high priced consultations, seminars and administrative positions. This is all money that is being siphoned off of education and apparently has done little to prevent frat boys from painting their faces black.
And lastly- the student demonstrators are not doing their cause any favors by disrupting lectures. The protestors with their megaphones made it so nobody could hear their professors on Friday. Peaceful demonstrations are fine form of advocacy. But, when obnoxious non-sensical screaming of expletives is the mode of protest and it impacts the learning of other students it shows a level of disrespect that is likely to distance people for whatever cause your are advocating.
And no, this is not like the Freedom Riders. Your not risking life and limb to prevent lynchings. Your protesting someone who stupidly painted their face black. Some of this may be genuine outrage. But, perhaps a bit of it is signaling to those in your crowd just how virtuous your are. And why not? There is little at risk here. The University cowers if fear of being labeled racist and does not dare to even scold those disrupting lectures and open house. You can go own screaming and no one will do a thing to you. Bull Connor is not around the corner about to arrest you. Please stop pretending this is Alabama in 1961.
I would recommend any prospective students to head over to the cpslo subreddit for students perspectives on the recent incident as well as how students of color are faring at the school. There was also a facebook post that someone reposted to reddit that summarized feelings about race at cal poly…
“It’s moving into the dorms and realizing no one looks like you. It’s being referred to as the token black girl in Trinity, even though you’re Asian. It’s falling for a guy in the dorms who says he’s afraid of what his family will think when they find out he’s dating an Asian girl. It’s being one of only a handful of colored women in your sorority. It’s your little telling you that her family moved away from the Bay Area because too many Indians and Asians were moving into their neighborhood. It’s sitting in the back of a political science room and watching the heads turn towards you as the topic of race comes up. It’s getting into your dream school or landing the perfect summer internship and being told you’re the diversity pick. It’s dating a guy whose sister was told by their mother that she could never marry a black guy because “their divorce rates are higher”. It’s having that same woman look you in the eye and complain about how her neighborhood “feels like China” and that all the Asians are moving in and just stare at her with blank faces, then also proceeding to tell you how happy she is to have you in her home. It’s watching black and minority professors not earn tenure. It’s going to a school where “Colonial Bros & Nava-hoes” was a frat party theme your freshman year. It’s being told you’re overreacting to racial tensions. It’s being told that race is not an issue in our community. It’s being told that your anger is unjustified. It’s being multiracial and having no place or no one to find community and solidarity with. It’s being called “exotic” and being expected to take it as a compliment when BY DEFINITION - exotic means “foreign or alien.” It’s the struggle between speaking up or remaining silent out of fear of being ostracized. It’s being asked “where are you from” when you were born and raised in California, yet that answer has never and will never suffice at that school. It’s befriending and growing close to someone and sharing vulnerabilities and insecurities with someone and then seeing that same person plastered all over the internet in blackface and forcing you to question the validity of each and every friendship you had while at Cal Poly. It’s silence. It’s discomfort. It’s hell.
I didn’t know if it was my place to speak out on this one, but you know what - it’s my place more than ever. All of the above, and so much more, happened to me - personally - during my time at Cal Poly, yet I know I had it easy for a minority.
This isn’t a one time incident. It’s every day. And it’s not just to me. It’s all of us. Cal Poly, you need to change. And do it damn fast.”
Here’s my problem with that perspective…it presumes it is Cal Poly centric. It isn’t. It is difficult to be anything but a white male in this country, not just at Cal Poly, but everywhere.
It is more difficult because it is very challenging to get closed racial friend groups that shield from that fact at Cal Poly because it is so white.
Cal Poly isn’t white because it’s a racist institution or because it hasn’t made an effort to increase diversity. Cal Poly is homogenous because it’s surrounding area is homogenous.
When non-whites began entering the collegiate ranks, they primarily did what everyone else did at the time, went to the college closest to where they lived.
It then became a program of attraction, a “I’ll go there because there are people like me” situation.
Cal Poly cannot overtly correct that like a private school can by making race an admissions factor because it’s illegal in CA.
That, along with the new reality of tribalism in this country, is what led us to where we are now, not some callousness in the way the institution views race.
The experience she had is undeniably sad and unfortunate. I do not wish to anyone, especially an impress-able teen to go through this anywhere and we should all speak and act in some measured manner against such behavior. I do hope that we’re not generalizing from this though. When people call for kids that did stupid or reprehensible things, intentional or not, to be thrown into jail for such non violent acts, without any due process, it pours cold water on anyone’s desire to have a productive dialog and is counterproductive. And that happens especially when such calls generalize and paint everyone else with the same broad brush.
I will state here that most people of all races are decent and well intentioned individuals. We all have our own biases and we have to recognize that and work against them. I encourage everyone (regardless of race) to look-up the term Implicit Association Test and take one of those test. Most people will be surprised about their implicit biases, especially people that don’t think they are biased. I am not saying bias is good, I am saying it exists, we have to recognize and better understand it within ourselves to be able to correct it. It is not easy and it can’t be done overnight. It has been said a lot about diversity, and I am not even sure what that means, since different people will have different definitions. Should it be a reflection of the racial profile of the US, or California? Or should it be an equal representation of every race? It quickly becomes silly.
Take a look at the diversity stats of Cal Poly vs. UC Irvine. I am sure there will be definitions by which Cal Poly will be considered more diverse than Irvine.
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?110653-University-of-California-Irvine
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?110422-California-Polytechnic-State-University-San-Luis-Obispo
I would state though that Irvine feels a lot more segregated, especially considering most international students are likely to be asian. I am sure that segregation was not intentional, but I am not sure it helps solving the longer term societal problem with people not recognizing their own biases, generalizing to everybody from a few deranged individuals and making inflammatory statements that are helping nobody.
The young lady that posted her unfortunate experience might have felt much better at Irvine. But unless she would have chosen to work in a similarly segregated environment post graduation, she would have inevitably encountered similar problems eventually. Change is absolutely necessary, and we all have to recognize that is needed. But we all have to work for it and not only by assuming everybody on the other side is evil and we posses all the righteous truth.
I believe there is already a discussion on the parents forum regarding the large percentage of asians enrolled at the UCs. I don’t know if racial diversity will “solve” the problems at SPSLO. I think that we can all agree that all students want to feel safe on campus and unfortunately, there have been several instances over the years that have made students of color feel less so.
I am 100% with you about safety, as a parent who has a minority senior daughter and in incoming minority freshman daughter at CalPoly (although you won’t be able to tell they’re minorities from their appearance). And that applies to everybody in any setting, not only within the schools. While the incidents described so far are sickening and worrisome, segregation and implying everybody from one race or another is intentionally biased does not help.
You should absolutely be punished. In a society governed by the rule of law, that punishment needs to follow due process, or else it becomes revenge not punishment. It might be slow and imperfect, but it is how it works.
And BTW, I totally understand if some feel the law is not adequate to deal with such situations. But the remedy there is to change the law through thoughtful discussion and through your representatives in congress. It might be slow, it might take a lot of work and meaningful discussions, but it is the process that has worked for a long time and it is what separates a civilized society from a mob justice one.
@eyemgh " It is difficult to be anything but a white male in this country, not just at Cal Poly, but everywhere." With all due respect- that is a bit much. Difficulties in this country have both socioeconomic and racial roots. I would recommend you read “Hillbilly Elegy” to get some perspective. All is not milk and honey in the land of the white male. I think an Asian female professional in San Francisco has a bit easier time of things than an uneducated rural white man from the Central Valley. And I have no doubt her kids would fit in culturally at Cal Poly much more easily than a poor white kid from Oildale.