MOST STUDENTS and faculty at the University would agree that race relations on Grounds are not terribly good. Many events in the past year, including a Halloween party that featured fraternity brothers dressed in "blackface" and an alleged racially motivated attack on Student Council presidential candidate Daisy Lundy highlight what would seem a dismal racial atmosphere at the University. In response to these episodes, the University's administration is beginning to consider a required diversity exercise for all students. Recently, a student organization known as the Individual Rights Coalition was formed to combat this initiative in an effort to protect free thought on Grounds. Although the University's current initiatives may not be the best solution, the IRC should be more constructive in its dissent and help offer solutions for the University's current racial atmosphere.
The IRC offers many important points in its opposition to the proposals that the University administration has presented. This group believes that the actions the University has planned will stifle free thought by force-feeding students what they should think. Additionally, the IRC claims that no matter how hard the University tries, they will not be able to change the views of students, particularly if that student has very strong beliefs which go against what the University plans on preaching. In short, the University will threaten free thought and waste its money in the process.
Last year's atrocious events brought a great deal of negative publicity to the University and could affect minority admissions and enrollment. Furthermore, the administration is as horrified as the student body that these events occurred and must make it a priority to point out that such proceedings are not in the spirit of the University and will not be tolerated. Through its proposed initiatives, the University believes that it will be able to alleviate much of the bad press these incidents received and also reassure current and prospective students that the University community is striving to make itself as understanding and nurturing as possible.
The initiative that the University is proposing may also be helpful by educating the student body on racial sensitivity. Racial humor is everywhere. Whether it is in movies, television or radio, comedians and entertainment programs tend to make racially charged jokes. Sometimes, however, people don't realize where the line must be drawn between harmless and tasteless. The fraternity involved in the blackface incident admitted that they had not thought that their actions would be offensive to black students. Similarly, students involved in a recent "Viva Mexico" fraternity party at Duke University poked fun at Mexican Americans through a simulated border-crossing checkpoint at the door and invites that resembled out-of-date green cards ("Sigma Chi party outrages Latinos," The Duke Chronicle, Sept. 17). Even though the fraternity did not mean to be offensive, they still angered a great deal of the Latino community, and the student body as a whole through a joke that was taken too far.
The IRC makes many valid points in its arguments against the University's plans. Students should not need to be force fed "correct views," and the initiatives may go in through one ear and back out the other for the majority of the students who engage in diversity training. Yet, the alternative of not doing anything appears worse that what the University proposes. Last year's events vividly illustrate that there are a percentage of students who either uphold intolerant views or are simply not aware of what is acceptable in respect to students of different backgrounds. Due to this, racial insensitivity is a problem the University must proactively solve.
The University is rightfully standing up against intolerance and trying to make the Academical Village a more supportive environment for its students and faculty. Although their tactics may not be the most effective, they are the best that the University has been able to formulate thus far. Instead of expending so much time and energy on rebelling against the University's proposition that is still being developed, perhaps the IRC could be more productive and assist the University in designing a more effective diversity education program.
(Alex Rosemblat's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at arosemblat@cavalierdaily.com.)
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