IS THE Cavalier Daily a racist organization? This question raises so many issues, it is impossible to address them all here. Last week I saw at least six opinion columns and a front-page story about race. It is an issue The Cavalier Daily has tackled before and certainly will again.
In my 1993-94 Cavalier Daily staff photo, there are about 70 people. One is black. Today's staff also has a very low number of blacks. Why is this the case, year after year?
A previous Managing Board had an open house at the Luther P. Jackson Black Cultural Center - no one attended. An episode like that causes one to point the finger at black students.
But other episodes turn that finger right at The Cavalier Daily. A black student, who happens to be the new student member of the Board of Visitors, wrote about what he viewed as a racist party, and what does he get for his effort? A white Cavalier Daily columnist attacking his view.
One reader complained about the turn of events but did not focus on the racial aspect. He pointed out that the tone of the response column sent the message of "Sure, we take guest columns, but then our columnists can humiliate you in print." Given the subject matter and the respective races of the two authors, The Cavalier Daily came out looking bad.
I have emphasized before that columns represent the opinions of their authors, not the opinion of The Cavalier Daily. But when a black student opens the opinion section and consistently sees a lot of non-black faces spouting off about racial matters, I start to understand why black students feel frustrated with The Cavalier Daily as an organization.
But I only start to understand. I do not understand completely. Here are three reasons why.
First, The Cavalier Daily is a volunteer organization. I know of no one who has been told, "Sorry, we can't use you for anything." Obviously, people must try out for some positions (like opinion columnist), be appointed for some positions, and elected for others. If you do not learn and improve at your job as fast as others, you will not get the best assignments. Most student organizations work that way - is that racist?
Second, I take issue with one guest columnist who admonished Cavalier Daily columnists to quit "hiding behind smiling faces and black and white print." Let's see: A columnist's name, picture and e-mail address are in the newspaper while his home address and phone number are usually easily available. The Cavalier Daily office is not hidden. How can the columnists be hiding?
Third, if anyone is hiding, it is the people who put up the fliers that said things like "Have an opinion about black Hoos? Then join The Cavalier Daily opinion section. No experience necessary." As I just pointed out, the columnists are out in the open. Engage them, respond to them - without constructive responses, how will their opinions, racist or not, ever change? Anonymous attacks do not accomplish much.
Which brings me to Friday's news story, "Students discuss recent race events at forum." According to the story, three of the panelists at the forum were columnists from The Cavalier Daily. (Again, they do not seem to be hiding.) But strangely, the story quotes neither Cavalier Daily staffers nor the student whose guest column about the Architecture School party provided the spark for the recent chain of events.
The story contained one quote from a student who seemed to be admonishing the columnists specifically, saying "I'm ignorant on a lot of things, but I don't write articles on them." Was there any response to this from the columnists? Did they have anything to say at all? I understand the desire to avoid a story that comes out looking like a defense of the columnists, but muzzling them completely looked strange.
The vicious cycle has proved hard to break. The Cavalier Daily does not have many black staffers. Therefore, black viewpoints are not regularly represented in the newspaper. Therefore, blacks do not join because they feel The Cavalier Daily is not a "black-friendly" organization. Result: The Cavalier Daily does not have many black staffers. Repeat.
The bottom line: I do not believe that The Cavalier Daily is a racist organization. Some of its columnists may have misconceptions about some issues and some people, but then again, I'm fairly sure that most people around Grounds, regardless of race, tend to have misconceptions about people who do not look like them.
Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily is a powerful position because only a limited number of people have an outlet for their thoughts. If you do not like anything you see in the opinion section, next time you see an ad for columnist submissions - try out. Or write a news article. Or take photographs. The Cavalier Daily's recruiting efforts extend a hand, but someone has to be on the other side to take it.
(Matthew Branson can be reached at ombud@cavalierdaily.com.)
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