The Cavalier Daily
Serving the University Community Since 1890

Closing the conversation on race

FIFTY years after the legal integration of American schools, aHarvard study shows de facto segregation at its highest level since 1969. A recent study reported in The Cavalier Daily found that even white ex-convicts are more likely to get certain jobs than black applicants without a criminal record.

In light of such empirical evidence, there should be no disagreement that racial inequality exists. The dispute centers on how to address the problem, and here reasonable minds disagree. But those of us who offer alternatives to the politically correct orthodoxy, have been called "racist" and "ignorant." Personally, I have been questioned on my sincerity and right to speak and write about matters of race. Ignorance, if ignorance there is, is a two-way street, however, and proponents of race-based programs are often oblivious to their activities' psychological effects.

Last week a letter in this paper related an incident in which Dean of the Office of African-American Affairs M. Rick Turner asked a student to leave a "Conversation with Black Men" discussion because he was not black. Ironically, the student's name suggests he too is a member of a "disadvantaged minority" group. Dean Turner, who did not return requests for comment, later explained in a letter to the editor the misunderstanding and his mistake in not limiting the event beforehand. Still, this unfortunate episode illustrates the harmful effects race-based programs and ideologies have on the campus environment.

With the emotional issue of race, it is sometimes necessary to close a discussion to facilitate a candid exchange. (Full disclosure: I myself am involved in an off-the-record discussion group about race.) I suppose it is also appropriate to limit a discussion about the particular concerns black men face to that group -- if the goal is to have them talk to each other without feeling inhibited by others who have not shared their experiences. The worry is when this reasoning is used across-the-board to justify an array of racially separate programs.

Much has been written about the race-based recruiting and orientation sessions and social and academic networks the University sponsors. Without rehashing old arguments, we should reexamine these programs in light of Turner's incident and other remarks he has made recently.

To set the context: Associate Dean of Admissions Valerie Gregory has explained to me in the past that such programs create a "comfort level" for minorities. But why the need for such programs unless there is a perception that all elite institutions remain incorrigibly racist and hostile to minorities? To the extent that students had these notions, such programs only perpetuate them. And for those without these concerns, such programs only sow seeds of fear. Implicit in this comfort zone is a zone of defensiveness, and non-minorities sense this. From the very beginning, these programs erect a barrier of race, and even if this barrier was preexistent, such programs reinforce it.

The underlying presumption in all this is that the University is indeed racist and intrinsically uncomfortable for minorities. As Turner said at a kickoff address for Black History Month quoted in this paper, "I'm tired of going to the fourth and fifth floors of Cabell Hall and seeing nobody that looks like me. I'm tired of going to Madison Hall and seeing nobody that looks like me."

If only things were as simple. It does nobody any good to put a minority in a position for the sake of having an ethnic face on display; Republicans did that during their 2000 convention and were roundly denounced for staging a "minstrel show." It's also sad if one can't feel comfortable in a room where others don't look alike. While it may have been understandable to restrict Turner's "Conversation with Black Men" racially, this justification fails when applied to the pervasive range of other race-based academic and social University activities. As the Supreme Court stated in Brown v. Board of Education, "To separate them from others

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