"Minority students in a predominantly white environment, she said, often cocoon themselves by clustering together. Both black and white resident advisers at Ohio State said it was common for black freshmen to seek out other black students.
'There are organizations on campus specifically designed to help minority students, and oftentimes minority students try to find their friends through those groups,” said Ellen Speicher, an Ohio State resident adviser who is white and a rising junior. “It makes sense, on a predominantly white campus.'"
And it got me thinking about the groups on campus that we have - and probably all colleges have. I believe we have a Black Student Alliance, Filipino (Wiki said it is not "ph"...) Student Association, and many more diverse groups that have been organized to create common ground for minority students. Many people think this is a great idea - and I'm certainly not against it (I'm actually in a group that is explicitly stigmatized in our society, just not one dealing with race - but I'm glad it's around!), but the quote got me to thinking. How much do these groups reinforce the idea of separate boundaries for race, between whites and minorities? The groups are created to make minorities feel at home, find friends with similar backgrounds/race, and find things they have in common. Essentially, giving everyone an equal chance on campus to do the same thing as anyone else. But how far do they go in creating boundaries that reinforce the idea of separate races?
I remember when I did a focus group my sophomore year for a qualitative data study that one white male, Tim (name change), said something to the effect of, "Yeah, the Black Student Alliance on campus was welcoming everyone and told people to come, so I showed up to see what it was like and I was the only white guy that showed up. I didn't feel not welcome, but it was just awkward like they were thinking, 'What is this guy doing here,' you know?" Tim is a perfect example and what came to my mind when reading the article. No one would be against these groups, but I was just curious to get your thoughts on how they may or may not reinforce separate racial boundaries on our campus or in our culture? I feel as a liberal student in today's world, it is my job to help destroy stereotypical notions about race and give everyone an equal chance - and I think that's why those groups believe they exist. But after reading the article and pondering, I feel in giving that equal chance to the minority groups, it distances them from people of other groups and sets up a wall to keep them separated.
Are they in a catch-22? Am I thinking about this all wrong?
I’m glad you brought this discussion up because I have also noticed that these interest groups do create a kind of invisible barrier that keep “outsiders” on their toes. However, it is important to note that they don’t necessarily have to deal with race. Imagine walking into a club for people interested in computer programming. I know I would feel so lost and out of place that I would use any excuse to try to walk out. It would probably take the club members double the amount of effort and “friendliness” to keep me interested.
ReplyDeleteIn this way, racial interest groups are the same. People tend to shy away from situations in which they are the odd one out and these groups often warrant these kinds of situations for students of a different race. However, I think these kinds of awkward environments can be avoided if the groups’ aim is to learn and share their cultural knowledge with others across racial boundaries, instead of focusing on learning and sharing the knowledge among themselves.
I think one successful example of this is the Vietnamese Student Association at WashU. I was a member of the club since I was a junior in high school. The first time I went to a VSA meeting, I was a bit surprise that the club comprised of many people of other racial and ethnic groups. In fact, Vietnamese members made up only a fifth or sixth of the club. When we have some cultural celebrations such as the Lunar Festival, we would post up signs and create facebook events to invite everyone and anyone to join, with the promise of food, of course. Other Asian as well as white students showed up.
I myself invited a black friend and a white friend from my high school to join. We were the only high school students there, but no one knew that until we sort of mingled. It was fun and there wasn’t the sort of tension or feeling of being unwelcome that your friend Tim felt. My friends told me they loved the celebration and were glad I brought them along.
Overall, I think how students feel about a racial interest group really depends on the purpose and focus of the group. If all it wants is to create an environment where its member can bond and experience culture together then it might create an invisible barrier to those who are not already part of the group. However, if its members want and try to attract the interests of the general student body and put the club out there for everyone and anyone to experience then the club might send forth a different vibe to students on campus.
Those are good points. I think if organized and carried out in the wrong way, these groups can enforce racism and the segregation of minority groups on campus. I attended the first BSA meeting when I was a freshman, and like "Tim" felt very unwelcome: various papers were passed out during the meeting, and a few times they skipped me "because I was white" (I think it was a survey about black identity or something, but for an intro meeting open to the campus is that completely necessary?). At the same time, I've attended various other meetings and have felt welcomed even if I wasn't part of the racial or ethnic identity that the group's name was based on.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the experience I had can lead some folks to be nervous to attend any similar sort of function around types of people who fit that category. In some ways, I feel like just the existence of the groups themselves are "doing race": making it an issue, like we talked about, instead of focusing on some other commonalities. However, I think that a lot of these groups also center around shared socioeconomic and cultural ties, which can be separated from the race issue; the way it's presented, though, is that racial difference is the basis of these groups.
So, again, are we to celebrate diversity or celebrate our collective identity as humans? The latter seems a bit dull...while the former can raise certain questions such as Chris's catch-22.
I really enjoyed reading this discussion. I do think that it is a good idea to have some sort of organization that allow minorities to belong. And we all know that SLU has many of them--Black Student Alliance, Muslim Student Association, Filipino Student Association, Indian Student Association, etc. But like Thoa was saying, do these groups create "barriers". Do such groups enforce being exclusive more, rather than aiming at being inclusive?
ReplyDeleteI keep thinking about the Cross Cultural Center. We had a discussion in class about how many people who do not belong in BSA, MSA, or ISF feel unwelcomed to go in. It is as if only students part of those three organizations can go in. I know that I am a part of ISF and am in and out of the CCC on a daily basis. But I can certainly see why many people have reservations going in.
I also see another problem with the CCC. Having all of the "multi-cultural" groups secluded in one place more or less isolates these groups. I think it's a wonderful idea to have such organizations exist, but I think the goal of inclusion would be achieved better if these groups were dispersed. It's the same idea with the international student population. Many international students stick together because it is what's most comforting. They are often put to room together and this hinders their transition process to America even more. The whole idea is, and many international students agree when asked, that they will interact with domestic students. But if there is a barrier in the first place, it makes it all the more difficult.
I would have to agree with you all. I think there is definitely value in having these groups in order for people to meet others that they will relate to or share interest in (which is the exact reason anyone joins any club.) However, I think that these groups probably do focus entirely too much on race instead of sharing their ethnicity. I would definitely feel nervous about attending a BSA event as well as many of the others. I have been to several cultural events on campus and felt fine, but its definitely uncomfortable. Part of me does not feel entitled to be there, as if being born as a middle class white American girl I could not possibly relate to the minorities.
ReplyDeleteI think if these groups could make their events about celebrating their culture as well as teaching others, it would open the events up to more students. This could be a source of awareness, and could definitely help racism by teaching the rest of the student population one group's perspective. I think I could never understand how important these minority groups are to the people who are involved in them, and I would never say they are bad. They are probably an invaluable source of comfort. I think that if the groups could be more inviting, there events would be more accessible to others!