http://www.al.com/news/tuscaloosa/index.ssf/2015/11/how_university_of_alabama_plan.html
I see this as a potentially VERY POSITIVE step in the right direction. My University has a very checkered past as a symbol of many things that I do not stand for, and I say it is a worthwhile effort to bring everyone out of the shadows and to the table to discuss equality for all groups. There are so many amazing things about UA that are sometimes overshadowed by this past, and even things that are/may be happening in the present - there is no room to harbor a spirit of racism, exclusion, or narrow-mindedness.
UA is the only SEC school without an Office of “Diversity.” Yet UA has one of the largest enrollments of Blacks in the nation, even in a state with a number of traditionally Black colleges and where there is a significant gap in the average ACT scores between Blacks and non Blacks. UA also has the highest percentage of Black faculty, at 6.8 per cent, “among top-tier state and private universities.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/11/12/its-2015-where-are-all-the-black-college-faculty/
From what I have learned, Offices of Diversity are expensive and pressure departments to hire less qualified students and faculty to meet desperate goals. Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g60ON91ClLA for an excellent critique by Heather MacDonald of the Manhattan Institute. I think it is possible that they even create an incentive to see problems that do not exist, or to exaggerate or exacerbate them, in order to justify expensive administrative positions and new diversity positions.
Recently, there was a Black Lives Matter protest in the Dartmouth Library. According to multiple witnesses, and some of which can be seen on video, the BLM students were shouting, screaming obscenities and physically harassing White and Asian students, demanding that they say whether they think Black Lives Matter. They were even opening doors to study rooms and demanding attention from people who were preparing for finals. Yet the administration is backing these protestors so far, as if the students who were inconvenienced at the library, are the problem. This is what I fear would come to UA. Offices of Diversity need injustice and tension to justify their existence.
Is their work to be done to make minorities feel safer and more included at UA? It could be, though I remain skeptical about some of the recent claims, especially the one from Amanda Bennett when she said that Whites at UA had attacked Blacks and kicked in doors when Obama won. Really? I think that seminars that focus on expectations about the way students treat one another that are touched on in the student code of conduct, and the Capstone Creed, could be of greater practical benefit in the long run. And teaching students to appreciate diversity of thought would also help ease tensions. What is hateful to one person is heritage to another. Sometimes people just need to let these different understandings be respected to have peace.
It’s interesting that Dartmouth has a problem like this. Their own web site indicates that for the incoming class of 2015, “44% are students of color”. I don’t think they have a diversity issue. I think they have a bullying issue.
I looked at their demographics last night. Only 8 per cent of their student body is Black. They do have a lot of Asians a good number of Latinos, many of whom are probably White Latinos. But I noticed they had a lot of people reporting mixed race, which is kind of cool.
What about the ladies that are members of sororities that are black?
One reported being given some hard looks yesterday by fellow black students.
How is having a “safe place” on campus inside the student union building going to help bridge the student body together? Some of the things they are demanding for are throwing it back to times of segregation.
Why did they not first request a meeting with Dr. Bell to discuss concerns?
At this meeting they could come prepared with their legitimate concerns.
Offer some solutions they have thought about to help.
Maybe in this meeting they could find out:
- The University has already started working on finding a solution.
- The University may not have been aware of a particular issue.
- The University was researching issue(s) that had been brought to their attention to verify that they are a legitmate concern.
- The University may have already explored possible solutions and determined there was no good way to fix a perceived issue without alienating a majortiy of the student body, hurt more people, cause a larger problem, cost prohibitive, would do nothing to improve campus life or the academics of UA.
None of that was done.
Instead a letter was sent to Dr. Bell and The Crimson White with a list of “demands”. Not concerns,
A protest was organized before the university even had a chance to address any of these concerns.
I have a huge problem with them making these “demands”. They did not even consider what is good for the whole, just their own little world of selfishness. It is too much of an exact copycat of the demands from Mizzou.
The incident at Dartmouth is apalling!!! If they had assualted one of my daughters like like that, charges would be filed. The fact that Dartmouth came out and apologized to the protesters tells me that the leadership at that school is very weak and does not care about the well being of their students.