Conservative Student News

Photo credit: www.colleges.unimelb.edu.au

Recently, St. Thomas has been bombarded with acts of racial discrimination. This is not the first time for such occurrences. Sadly, it seems that there are a few individuals within our campus who feel a need to express an intolerance of others. Why anyone would feel a need or desire to act out in such a way honestly baffles me.

St. Thomas has quickly set about to resolve these "hate crimes"-from sponsoring talks within the dorms for students to discuss how they feel about such acts; to holding lectures in and outside of class on how these activities should not be tolerated; to initiating the campus-wide march through the arches on Nov. 1, 2007; to allowing posters and signs that condemn anyone who "hates," "discriminates," or "judges" to be posted all over campus.

At the forum in Foley Plaza following the march on Nov. 1, students were given a chance to talk in front of their peers about these occurrences. Several community members from outside of St. Thomas also came to voice their concern and outrage. I joined in the march from Summit Avenue and headed on through the arches, ending up at Foley Plaza with everyone else and was able to listen to a few individuals, several whom I know or have met before.

I am quite outraged that anyone would discriminate against someone, especially based color, race, or the like. Thus, I think it is right to address such an issue as a community and to console those who have been offended.

Students like me participated in the march to support the offended individuals, to stand alongside them and to stand against the insane and pathetic acts of racial abuse that had been perpetrated. Some students got up and made great positive comments-ones that will move this campus on and make this community grow and become even stronger-but many others seemed bitter, and hopefully unknowingly, spoke out in a lecturing and condemning manner, making umbrella statements in their complaints, not only about these specific crimes, but about the general "lack" of color or "diversity" at St. Thomas.

I listened to these individuals at the microphone reprimanding the other students who were standing in the crowd-students like me, who they had never even met, and who came to the march to support, not offend. So, you can imagine that I was surprised to hear them accuse the students in the crowd with sweeping statements like: "You don't sit with us at the lunch tables."

I know that people get comfortable with folks that appear to be like themselves, and I have actually experienced this exclusion first-hand from students of color. I know they experience it too; I am certainly not denying that-but the fact that I came to the march and was told that I need to start being more accepting, when I sit by people at lunch everyday regardless of color or race and make friends with people of all types is hurtful.

When angry students at the march started claiming that St. Thomas should be accepting more minorities to increase "diversity," and that, "we should go out and find those who did this because they need to be dealt with," it made me begin to think carefully about a wide range of topics related to diversity.

Of course, I don't want segregation, so I began to seriously consider the true point of this forum and this march. Are we working towards it or against it? I started to think of the efforts that had been made and as time has gone on and I saw signs condemning hate splattered on walls all over campus. I felt like something had gone wrong. Is this fury and condemnation what the St. Thomas community needs?

Then, I started to wonder about Black Empowerment groups, and special organizations and clubs at St. Thomas-groups where students are immediately introduced as minorities when they arrive on campus-where minorities associate almost exclusively with minorities. Naturally, these special minority groups pose a problem because they promote exclusion rather than inclusion. When you separate yourself from others based upon your race or are separated due to it, it would seem that there is an undue importance placed upon color and ethnicity.

If one only participates in such organizations and only becomes friends with people of the same color, then one cannot blame the non-minority students of being racist or not accepting of them. When I realized that much of the segregation that these students perceived could certainly be due to these clubs, it increased my understanding of why some individuals may feel unaccepted.

I don't know if I see the benefit from having clubs that seem to segregate students on campus when our goal is to "increase diversity." Imagine what would happen if there was such a thing as a White Empowerment club on campus. Taking the parallel even further into the problem of segregation nation-wide, what if there were such a thing as White Entertainment Television, just like BET (Black Entertainment Television)? Would people feel included or excluded by these organizations? Would they help or hurt society?

The forum at St. Thomas had a point-to address these recent acts of intolerance as a community and resolve to move beyond and above them, proving that such displays of hate will not be held acceptable on this campus. Thus, when the statements of the march demonstrators became increasingly bitter, and, in the aftermath of the march, as signs began popping up all over campus condemning hatred in an accusatory manner, I started to question what was going on and if it was good or bad for the diversity and well-being of this campus.

I know that fully understanding what it feels like to be a minority is not something a person can grasp until they have been in a situation where they are one or have lived as one. But, I also know that race should not matter.

I once heard a racist defined as "someone who lives as if race matters."

I look around me at St. Thomas and see people relating-there is a time to appreciate differences, but to focus on them in such a drawn out way that leads to hate reverting back to hate, and to create clubs around color or race seems a bit racist to me. I certainly don't see equality in such segregation.

I feel like we should make people feel included. I know, as a senior at St. Thomas, that students are aware that the acts of discrimination, although not isolated, are events that are not signature of the general population of St. Thomas students, faculty, or staff. We don't need to beat a dead horse; we just need to focus on what really matters and in a manner conducive to creating true diversity, rather than actually working against it, leaving room for people of all races, colors and backgrounds to actually come together.

Further, unlike some of the claims made by protesters at the march, I don't think that discrimination is something that should begin before one even gets on campus. Increasing "diversity" at St. Thomas does not entail accepting people into the college based solely upon their race.

Diversity should be attained through accepting those who have worked hard towards such a goal as furthering their education in college, regardless of whether they are white, black, or purple. I do not believe people should be accepted to a college based on their appearances or who their family is. Let us seek to promote a community where our differences are acknowledged and people can freely voice their ideas without focusing on these differences to the point that we lose our common ground and sense of friendship.

On Nov. 27, 2007, Father Dennis Dease, the President of St. Thomas, wrote in the Bulletin Today, ‘I am announcing a more formal response to such acts of hatred and intolerance. I have approved two new initiatives: "Hate Crimes and Bias-Motivated Incidents Policy" and "Procedures for Implementation of the Hate Crimes and Bias-Motivated Incidents Policy." The policies set forth in these documents are effective immediately. The new documents strengthen but do not replace the existing Statement on Offensive Behavior, which remains in effect.'

Within these initiatives a hate crime is defined as: "an actual criminal offense motivated in whole or in part by the offender's bias toward the complainant based on race, color, gender, sexual orientation, age, national origin, religion or physical or mental disability," while a bias-motivated incident is said to be any "conduct, speech or act of intolerance motivated by another's actual or perceived race, color, gender, sexual orientation, age, national origin, religion or physical or mental disability."

Now, as a community, I believe St. Thomas is quite accepting of all races, but it seems one will need to take special caution with the new policies, for if they are not careful something one says or does could be taken completely out of context and defined as a hate crime or bias-motivated. The Statement on Offensive Behavior states that harassment includes, "The display or circulation of written materials or pictures which are offensive to either gender or to racial, ethnic, or religious groups" and "verbal abuse, jokes, or insults directed at members of a racial, ethnic, or minority group."

Students who are charged with such behavior-whether on campus, through electronics, or in their dorm-will be investigated and dealt with through the newly instated policies.

Such policies are quite open-ended, for people can be offended by a variety of things, and so, what these policies allow for on a more dangerous level, is an easy abuse of others through laying out strict policies against those confronted as guilty of intolerance.

Will these new policies restrict what teachers may say and what they may ask their students to read in class? Will it limit freedom of speech and the ability to discuss topics of importance on our campus? Will it be equally appropriated to defending the individuality of each student for the unity of all, or will it become a biased procedure in itself, working for one side against another? Will it increase unity and promote a feeling of strong acceptance or will it increase suspicion and feelings of separation, victimization, and loss of desire and hope for us to come together as a community? I hope these new policies work for the betterment of our community, but perhaps only time will tell.