Facing Bigotry

I love college students. I love their energy and zest for life.  I love watching them learn, mature, fall in and out of love, and seek solutions to problems.  I love watching them stretch and begin to discover themselves.  And I especially love helping them to see their role as leaders and change agents in an imperfect world.  However, a new generation of students have arrived on campus who do not see themselves as change agents, but as entitled  recipients of a safe space where they are shielded from bigotry.  I discovered that this new generation of students was never prepared to survive and thrive in the unexpected age of Trump.  Perhaps their parents let their guard down since we had a black president and gay marriage. They never expected that their children would need the resiliency they were armed with to deal with the pushback we are experiencing from white nationalist.  We now have to enable and empower students to become activists on their own behalf.  And I discovered that this notion is new to them.
On Thursday evening, I spent about an hour and a half with a large group of disgruntled 18-22 year old black college females.  They were upset by the way they were being treated by their white classmates, some faculty members, and by their perception of a lack of resources for them as blacks on campus.  As they described the incidents of their mistreatment, I began to realize that they were experiencing the Trumpian, white nationalist, “Make America Great” or “White” again backlash to diversity and inclusion.  They experienced stares when a few of them entered Starbucks together on campus.  They experienced uninvited touches to their hair.  They experienced the usual questions that accompany ignorance.  And one was called a “black bitch” by a white male student while walking across campus.  To my surprise, in their eyes, it was the institution’s inability to prevent these things from happening in the first place that was the problem.  They felt that the fact that these things were happening made the entire University racist.  And the University was at fault for admitting these students and for having insensitive white faculty members.

Having established in their minds that the school was racist, they went on to assert that the fact that we didn’t have an African American studies department, a black only residence hall,  that the president had these big dinners with all white people and a token black person in attendance, and that some of their friends randomly lost their financial aid,  all proved their point.  They went on to assert that the diversity speaker at orientation was a comedian, their freshman seminar was a joke, the school only wanted to be diverse for publicity sake, and that they weren’t learning anything in their classes.

The problem I had was where to begin.  I felt bad that they were grappling with students and a few faculty members behaving badly, but I reminded them that no one has control over what other people say or do.  However, I assured them that they didn’t have to take being harassed and that incidents should be reported and that the perpetrators would be held accountable.  I talked about our nation and where we are with the push back against diversity and inclusion and that they were experiencing the boldness of bigots who have been empowered by Trump and that it is happening on campuses all across the country.

One thing I realized is that these students  lacked context for what was happening.  So, I gave them a quick history lesson on diversity in higher education.  I began with Harvard, our first U.S. college that was established in 1636 and only admitted the sons of wealthy white men.  It took 243 years before a woman was admitted to Harvard Annex (later called Radcliff).  I talked about the additional years it took for men and women to actually attend Harvard together in the 1970s and that the first female full professor at Harvard was in the 1970s.  I talked about Affirmative Action opening the college doors to qualified women and minorities.  The point I made was that women and minorities are relatively new additions to most institutions of higher learning in this country.  These institutions were created for and by white males.  Gaining entrance to the universities was the first challenge.  I told them that all my professors through to my doctorate were white.  The older white male faculty have tenure and for years only hired other white males who will  remain until they want to retire.  That is our opportunity to replace them with women or minorities so that our faculty can better mirror our students and so that the curriculum can also change.  It takes time and we are really only at the beginning of that change.

The other thing that needed clearing up was the demographics in California (6% black) and Ventura County (2% black) in particular and why we had become an Hispanic Serving Institution-the demographics of California.  I talked to them about the changing demographics in American and that our colleges will naturally become more diverse because the pool of students is diverse.  It is not a publicity stunt, it is an educational and national imperative. Those donor dinners with the University president are mostly white because wealthy people of color are few and new to the donor class.  The president of the University must court donors with money to pay for the buildings and scholarships and programs they enjoy.  Because of our nation’s history, those with the most money and who have a tradition of philanthropy are predominately white.  This too will eventually change, but no time soon.

Beyond providing context, I sought to empower the young women.  I said to them that they must use their voices and their voting power both on campus and in society to make the changes they want to see.  I had to explain to them that it is their responsibility to report harassment, to talk to their professors or the dean if they aren’t getting anything out of a particular class and to ask for resources and courses they believe they need.

One very vocal student was angry that she had to do anything because she paid tuition and it was the University’s responsibility to protect them and give them what they needed.  I provided a rundown of all that the University is doing to provide diversity training for faculty and staff and even for students.  I described programs, including the financial and advising resources for their group, as efforts by the University to support them.  I had to explain that we are not mind readers and that we listen and respond to student voices.  I explained how this group was formed in response to a black female voice.

I sent them a follow up email after the meeting and tried to dispel a few of the myths that the University allowed them to create because of our lack of clear communication.  I promised to look into what they thought was the arbitrary revoking of financial aid and I did.  As expected, there is no arbitrary revoking of financial aid; students loose their aid for specific reasons.  But mostly, I sought to empower them to take responsibility and action for their education and circumstances to improve the campus for themselves and for those who will come after them.

This is a new generation of students, facing adversity that they were never prepared for and needing to learn that they must be part of the solution.  Would they be inspired by images of black college students sitting at lunch counters or horrified?  Will they join the ranks of the “Black Lives Matter” Movement or shy away from it? I’m hopeful and determined to help them see themselves as powerful young women with agency.