|
|
|
|
Digging Deep into Issues of Diversity By Jan Whitaker "If racism is a toxic atmosphere and its victims are caged miners' canaries dying from the lethal vapors, how long will it take the rest of us to realize we're at risk too? Will we, asks Harvard law professor Lani Guinier, continue to respond merely by "outfitting the canaries with tiny gas masks"? Guinier posed this question in November in a keynote address that set the stage for a three-day conference on racial and ethnic diversity hosted by Smith. She declared that dismantling racism and elitism requires much more than providing for equal opportunity. Not only must we draw into the competition those who have been traditionally excluded, we must also see to it that the rules that favor the traditional winners get changed. Guinier's ideas echoed throughout the extended dialogue that took place during the conference, entitled "What's Next? American Pluralism and the Civic Culture." Guinier told conference participants that we must rethink social institutions, seek inspiration for change from the experience of marginal people, and make the exception the rule. "Don't just fix the canary, fix the atmosphere," she exhorted a cheering audience in John M. Greene Hall. The conference drew hundreds of participants, ranging from well-known civil rights activists, scholars, performers and educators to alumni, students and faculty from Smith and other colleges to members of the local community. Planned by a committee of students, staff and faculty under the direction of Smith sociologist Peter Rose, the extended dialogue on pluralism fulfilled a promise made by President Simmons at the time she took over the college's leadership. The conference was funded by The Coca-Cola Foundation and the Office of the President. "We have to take responsibility for the whole," Simmons advised conference participants, bringing Guinier's ideas home to colleges and universities. Topping Simmons' list of priorities is working to prevent the development of an elite system of education that excludes poor students. "And that's where we're heading," she warned. Another immediate goal, Simmons noted, is for higher education to end its isolation and become a leader in transforming society. Private institutions, though they have the means to be innovative, are often the most conservative, she said. "Throughout America there are many people who have never been in a place like this," Simmons observed, glancing around Sage Hall. "We don't understand well enough how wide the gulf is between us ... and those who've been left behind in this society." Simmons wants to see colleges and universities develop a set of principles for dealing with racial inequities within their own structures and, by extension, within society as a whole. Like the Sullivan Principles articulated for corporations doing business in apartheid South Africa, they would hold institutions to a standard of conduct. "Could we agree on a mission statement that the focus of our efforts ought to be addressing the rights and well-being of the least privileged in our society?" she asked. Referring to her "laundry list" of items for action, Simmons called for more agility and innovation in "calcified" institutions of higher education. Put social activists on boards of trustees and internal committees, she urged. Make sure schools' policies are made by diverse, not homogeneous, groups. Get the faculty to go out into the community. Downplay standardized test scores in evaluating prospective students. Pressure professional organizations to provide support to colleges and universities under fire for admitting too many minorities. The conference challenged participants to be creative and provocative in coming up with concepts and strategies. Michigan State University sociologist Rubén Rumbaut documented vividly how false popular conceptions of new minorities are. Over the last 30 years, he said, this country has become home to the most highly educated newcomers ever to come to these shores. Nearly half of African immigrants, for example, have college degrees. Official racial categories obscure enormous diversity in terms of wealth, education, and other socioeconomic indexes, revealing how little these "one-size-fits-all" pigeonholes can tell us, he said. Sharp differences within racial and ethnic groups also make tight group unity a shaky basis for political action, according to many panelists. Johnnetta Cole, a professor at Emory University and former president of Spelman College, frankly admitted that at times she may have more in common with a white feminist who is anti-racist than with an African-American man who is sexist. Social class has split the African-American community, she said, a phenomenon that is being reflected in popular films. "No longer can we assume that the person recoiling from the inner-city street kids will be white. That person is just as likely to be African-American," she observed. Cole and others counseled students at Smith to accept each other as members of racial and ethnic groups-even allowing groups to keep to themselves when necessary-but then to meet each other in public spaces. To white students who asked if they were welcome at the black students' lunchroom table, she said, "Don't ask that table to do everything." To black students she said, "Have the table, but be some other places also." Respect for others is essential in building unity, panelists said. "Don't force people to give up their identities," said NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund director Kathryn Rodgers '70. Mutual respect is enhanced when all parties, including whites, have a chance to explore and claim their identities, several panelists noted. Bob Suzuki, president of California State Polytechnic University, recommended that courses in diversity examine how whites lost their ethnic cultures in oppressive Americanization drives early in this century. The resulting "social amnesia" means that many white students today believe they have no ethnicity, he said. Bringing about a multi-ethnic democracy will not happen as a result of purely formal education, said panelists in theatre and the arts. The arts are a powerful tool for expressing difference and engaging inter-group dialogue, participants noted, but dominant arts institutions are too often elitist. "We in theatre need to walk hand in hand with activists," said performance journalist Anna Deavere Smith. Artists can also lead the way in reworking the stories our culture tells about winners and losers. Guinier calls these rationalizing stories-always told by the winners-the "third dimension of power." A moving performance by Anna Deavere Smith on the second day of the conference gave voice to other stories, including those of a woman in prison and individuals involved in the 1992 Los Angeles uprisings. As did the other conference participants, Simmons acknowledged that creating change will be uncomfortable for many. Colleges and universities must "bring marginal ideas to the center," train community activists, and reward dissent, she asserted. "What are we doing with our wealth?" she asked. "The public needs to know what we stand for." "The next time we meet," she told the audience at the final conference session, "I hope we'll be celebrating that we're at a different point." |
..............................................................................................................................................................
NewsSmith
is published by the Smith College Office of College Relations
for alumnae, staff, students and friends.
Copyright © 2000, Smith College. Portions of this publication
may be reproduced with the permission of the Office
of College Relations, Garrison Hall, Smith College, Northampton,
Massachusetts 01063. Last update: 5/2/2000.
Made
with Macintosh
