@choroidal, I do stand corrected and should have chosen my words more carefully. There are certainly pockets of the US where economic opportunity and access to even basic health services is downright third world.
Take that white male hillbilly though, give him a shower, a haircut and a suit, stand him next to a woman of any color and any non-white male, and ask elementary school kids from anywhere in the country which one the doctor or scientist is, and repeatedly, the vast majority will choose the white man. The deference is baked into our societal makeup. That’s what I was specifically referencing, not that all white men have it easy.
Stop trying to minimize what happened. As a 4th year latino student I can tell you this is not a safe place for People of Color. The administration is doing the bare minimum to deal with this incident. The school is avoiding taking action and mostly depending on the National Fratebrity Board to do all the action. Cal Poly has a history of not standing up for minority students unlike so many other school across the country. Cal Poly was ranked among the 7 worst Latino serving institutions (link attached). The school can definitely take more action but they stay within safe zones. Watch out POC’s!
As I said, my fear in even responding was that I’d be labeled as an apologist by simply trying to contextualize. The subject is too polarized for rational discussion, so I will respectfully back out.
@thetavixx, “Cal Poly was ranked among the 7 worst Latino serving institutions” I could not find any mention of Cal Poly in the original article. I’m probably just missing it. Could you please supply a more specific link? I’d like to understand what criteria is being considered.
I think the study was looking at graduation rate gaps between Latino and White students at colleges; Cal Poly’s grad. rates were approx. 65% (latino) vs. 78% (white), hence a gap of approx. 13 percent. Overall, the graduation rates were I believe the best for CSU system, but lower than UC system… but the study was concerned with the gaps. When you get to the web site, you can click on buttons on the right side to get full info. These numbers were averaged from grad rates from 2013-2015. We would need more information to understand what was causing the gaps (financial support, etc.)… the study doesn’t go into that.
The study involved graduation rate gaps between latino and white students at US universities. Cal Poly’s rates were approx. 65% (latino) vs. 78% (white), hence about a 13% gap; study didn’t delve into reasons for gaps, such as financial support. The web site with the study (see my link above) has buttons on right you can click on to get more info and compare universities.
As a Caucasian guy that grew up in a “white bread” area of Orange County and actually considered SLO many years ago where a number of my classmates went, but i didn’t want an extension of my high school experience. I’m really glad I went out of my comfort zone and attended one of the most diverse schools. Like many growing up in a homogeneous area, I was somewhat ignorant of other races and cultures. However in my 4 years of college, I had not one Caucasian roommate, but African American, Asian, and Hispanic ones . I used to get into debates on a number of topics late into night and actually took a “Racism In Western Society” elective course my freshman year to understand others viewpoints more. Really opened up my eyes…in fact exposure to diversity really shaped me in to who I am today in the most positive way! Really feel for you @sleeplessmom1 in that poignant, insightful Post #16! You should try to show that to the Chancellor and the “higher ups” to help change “damn fast” which unfortunately won’t happen soon in this most unfortunate situation that keeps repeating itself.
@Fisherman99 - Just to clarify, I do not have children at SLO, but have extended family members that are attending or have attended SLO. I am just saddened that in this day and age that our children still have to face the same racial prejudices that I myself faced as a child in the '70s.
@sleeplessmom1 and @Fisherman99, I’m in no way minimizing what has happened at Cal Poly, but this is not a Cal Poly issue per se. It is an American issue. At my alma mater feces in the form of the N word and swastikas were smeared on bathroom stalls in a dorm several years ago. Last year, the President of the United States equated neo-nazi, white supremacists to those protesting them, saying there were “some very fine people on both sides.” We feel bad, because we want the institutions we care about to be above the fray, but colleges in particular are only products of their constituent students. We are a deeply divided country, with two groups no longer even able to agree on basic scientific truths. We have a lot of work to do, not just as a school, but as a country.
So much for respectfully declining to post any further.
I think the current political environment has emboldened some of the more fringe elements. The likely result though will be the unification of the VAST majority of the Cal Poly student body against all intolerant behavior, be it boorish, grossly insensitive, overtly hostile and everything in between.
You would think that people would act in a more mature manner now that they are in college. They are not kids anymore they are young adults who in a matter of years will be in the workforce working with people of all backgrounds. It’s disgusting that this is going on at a school like Cal Poly, we could only hope that something changes so we stop seeing stuff like this especially in schools.
@sleeplessmom1, as much as I despise what he has to say, he is being brought in by the College Republicans, as he was, without incident, last year. The school (all schools for that matter) is in a no win situation. Deny him and they are accused of stifling free speech. Host him and be accused of fostering his hateful point of view. What he has to say, from my point of view, is disgusting and vile, but he resonates with roughly one third of the country.
It is worth note that last year, unlike Berkeley, he showed up, spoke, and left, with little fanfare. In Skinnerian terms, he was not reinforced. I thought it was a proud moment for Cal Poly.
The guy is so toxic with his paedophilia apologies not even Breitbart news would keep him on their payroll. Inviting him to speak says more about the judgment of the College Republicans than about the attitudes of Cal Poly leadership towards race for allowing him to speak. The best way to handle him is to just ignore him, he stands no chance of getting any prominence unless we draw attention to him.
While the sad reality is that in the 21st century there are some hateful racists all over US, and we should all speak against them, but painting everyone as racist at the school is thoroughly hurting the vast majority of decent people in the school and only emboldens the real haters.
My son has been accepted to Cal Poly as a History major. He has a high school friend that got accepted and they want to room together. I don’t want him to go, I want him to go somewhere else. Why? For one, his major isn’t exactly what the school is famous for, next, we are a minority. Individually I don’t see racism as a problem for him, however, I don’t want to invest the thousands of dollars that college is going to cost and have his education become collateral damage in the endless debate of who’s right and who’s wrong. I don’t want him protesting when he needs to spend more time studying and preparing himself for the future. I unfortunately see a future war zone here, because when you have the national news shine light on something, along with it come the extremist on both sides to make their points in this battleground. I got the message from the President. I understand he is ham-strung by the 1st amendment, it doesn’t matter, I’ve got to protect my own I’ve read enough posts to know that this isn’t the first time a racial incident occurred, and because of how it was handled, this won’t be the last time. Would my son help add to the diversity? Sure, but at what price. Everyone can say things, as parents, we have to put up the money. I don’t have the endless resources others might have to make a mistake here. I just want him to graduate, maybe get a law degree, a good job… and then he could protest to his heart’s desire and I can enjoy my retirement without having to eat dog food for the rest of my days.
@Jollysammy, I’d suggest you do a Google search with names of the other schools he’s considering and the term “racism.” Search each school individually. I think what you will find is that it will be universal. Sometime, within the last 4-5 years, there will have been a racist incident at every school you search. I could be wrong, but I searched the most liberal schools I could think of off the top of my head, Macalester, Carleton, Reed and Evergreen. All have had racial problems in the last few years. I’m in no way minimizing or accepting these events. It isn’t alright. I am suggesting that your son won’t likely be immune no matter where he goes. Cal Poly simply happens to be in the spotlight right now.
My son is being recruited by the men’s golf coach at Whitman in Walla Walla. They really want him bad. Whitman has only 1400 students. class size is 9-17. But most of all, I would have a coach there to keep him academically in good shape whose wife happens to be a professor in his major. I asked the coach how the support is at the college. he told me that if one of his players gets as low as a B, they will get him a tutor, which is usually the professor of the class. He sold me right then and there. Walla Walla is as close to a bubble as I could wish for. Plus he would get to play at the private country clubs in the area. It is so remote that I don’t even think the press wants to go there.
