2008 Woodie Awards
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Ethnic studies combats racism
Guest commentary
by Guest Commentary |
As a student who grapples with the relationship between race and politics in the classroom, I am proud to say I belong to a dedicated mass of students who self-identify as ethnic studies majors and as students of color. The work being done on campus today, such as the Five-Year Diversity Plan, the Underrepresented Minority Recruitment Plan and the upcoming (hopefully) departmentalization of ethnic studies, is critical because it accurately reflects a degree of progress that the University of Oregon has made during the last few years on issues of race.
But what is most important is to understand why this work has to be done in the first place. I appreciate ASUO President Emily McLain writing and voicing her approval of ethnic studies as an academic department and a critical discipline, as well as her support of things like the Five-Year Diversity Plan and the recruitment and retention of faculty and students of color. But President McLain doesn't mention the simple reason that such policies exist and why such efforts must be made in the first place: racism.
Advocating on-campus diversity and making the University as inclusive and welcoming a place as possible is great, but it seems to ignore the fact that we as students of color must voice our opinions through such channels because of racism. Yes, racism still exists today in the American university. It still clouds perceptions and fosters inequality, even if you can't see it. It still separates persons based on a trait that has been scientifically disproved and academically criticized. And despite what progress has been made in combating racism since the 1960s, it remains evident, albeit less direct, at our University.
It is because of years and years of racism that many universities have ethnic studies departments. It is not, despite what many think, due to the fact that diversity in a college setting is good (although, I firmly believe it is critical to any undergraduate or graduate student experience). Racism is the reason that we must departmentalize ethnic studies, and for that matter, any discipline that works to deconstruct and understand something that is as American as apple pie. Centuries of discrimination and inequality based on race need to be discussed in a setting that embraces them with adequate funding, a strong mass of dedicated students and professors and most importantly, a desire to reverse the historical trend of subordinating some persons on the basis of race.
Racism is the reason that we need to departmentalize ethnic studies. We as a university need a discourse to understand this complex issue. As a student who experiences how being classified as a program instead of a department works against this effort, I urge anyone who morally believes that racism, discrimination and inequality are detrimental to the University to voice your opinion in support of ethnic studies. Perhaps then we as one collective body can accept the fact that racism exists, and work to defeat it through the most effective academic outlet.
There is no reason we need to repeat history and continue to operate in a society or institution that does not fight racism. If we understand the racism evident throughout our nation's history, we can understand how it still operates in the present and together unite to improve the future.
David M. Van Der Haeghen is a political science and ethnic studies major at the University.
But what is most important is to understand why this work has to be done in the first place. I appreciate ASUO President Emily McLain writing and voicing her approval of ethnic studies as an academic department and a critical discipline, as well as her support of things like the Five-Year Diversity Plan and the recruitment and retention of faculty and students of color. But President McLain doesn't mention the simple reason that such policies exist and why such efforts must be made in the first place: racism.
Advocating on-campus diversity and making the University as inclusive and welcoming a place as possible is great, but it seems to ignore the fact that we as students of color must voice our opinions through such channels because of racism. Yes, racism still exists today in the American university. It still clouds perceptions and fosters inequality, even if you can't see it. It still separates persons based on a trait that has been scientifically disproved and academically criticized. And despite what progress has been made in combating racism since the 1960s, it remains evident, albeit less direct, at our University.
It is because of years and years of racism that many universities have ethnic studies departments. It is not, despite what many think, due to the fact that diversity in a college setting is good (although, I firmly believe it is critical to any undergraduate or graduate student experience). Racism is the reason that we must departmentalize ethnic studies, and for that matter, any discipline that works to deconstruct and understand something that is as American as apple pie. Centuries of discrimination and inequality based on race need to be discussed in a setting that embraces them with adequate funding, a strong mass of dedicated students and professors and most importantly, a desire to reverse the historical trend of subordinating some persons on the basis of race.
Racism is the reason that we need to departmentalize ethnic studies. We as a university need a discourse to understand this complex issue. As a student who experiences how being classified as a program instead of a department works against this effort, I urge anyone who morally believes that racism, discrimination and inequality are detrimental to the University to voice your opinion in support of ethnic studies. Perhaps then we as one collective body can accept the fact that racism exists, and work to defeat it through the most effective academic outlet.
There is no reason we need to repeat history and continue to operate in a society or institution that does not fight racism. If we understand the racism evident throughout our nation's history, we can understand how it still operates in the present and together unite to improve the future.
David M. Van Der Haeghen is a political science and ethnic studies major at the University.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 11
Steve Van Der Haeghen
posted 2/13/08 @ 11:06 AM PST
The need for a diverse, tolerant, inclusive society in the U.S. is greater today than ever. David Van Der Haeghen's cogent reflections on this need should raise our consciousness to racism as it existed in our history as well as its legacy in many of society's issues today. (Continued…)
Brian
posted 2/13/08 @ 4:00 PM PST
Good article, I don't know a lot of people on campus so I don't know all the issues that go on here but at least when I was in the Business school I heard comments from ignorant and possibly racist students. (Continued…)
Hold on a second...
posted 2/14/08 @ 9:52 AM PST
"I urge anyone who morally believes that racism, discrimination and inequality are detrimental to the University to voice your opinion in support of ethnic studies"
What if I believe that racism, discrimination and inequality do exist, but that the disciplines of sociology, psychology, history, political science and anthropology provide adequate opportunities to address these social blights? Isn't creating a wholly separate "ethnic studies" department simply a form of self-ghettoization? Doesn't it reinforce the sense of fundamental "otherness" among people of color which is the legacy of historical racism? Doesn't it also reinforce the wholly inaccurate canards that ethnicity is the sole purview of "people of color" and somehow synonymous with long-discarded (in academic discourse) social constructions of race?
I don't go to school here anymore, so I really don't care all that much. (Continued…)
Brian
posted 2/14/08 @ 12:06 PM PST
Hold on a second...-
Maybe some of your friends are trying to let go of racism but there are still a lot of racists in this country, it is just more undercover. (Continued…)
hold on...
posted 2/14/08 @ 2:06 PM PST
Brian-
I wouldn't dispute a single point you make. I would however dispute the value of an ethnic studies department in actually combating the kind of racism you are talking about. (Continued…)
JMDen
posted 2/16/08 @ 9:25 AM PST
From headline:
"Ethnic studies combats racism"
Remember, when the politically correct use the term racist, they simply mean white Gentiles who discriminate. (Continued…)
Adrian
posted 2/17/08 @ 4:01 AM PST
Are you trying to force MORE discourse into the oldest and most talked about topic in american history? How about discourse about the realities about how the african tribeleaders sold their own countrymen to arab slave traders, who sold them to the europeans, who used them to build the most powerful country on earth, and then to fight for the freedom of the people they once enslaved, only to find themselves attacked by the people they once fought to free? Or discourse about how fortunate we are to live in a country where we can express ourselves freely, live the way we choose, enjoy free market and have a government with checks and balances?
Brian
posted 2/17/08 @ 8:31 PM PST
Adrian-
There were more people involved in the slave trade than Europeans, that's certain but fight for the freedom of other races? Give me a break. (Continued…)
Huh.
posted 2/18/08 @ 11:39 AM PST
I thought it was a colorblind society we were working towards, not trying to highlight differences and victimhood.
Huh.
posted 2/18/08 @ 11:46 AM PST
"Europeans not only enslaved blacks but also the indigenous peoples in North and South America. If they didn't enslave them, they used them in other ways such as forcing them to pay tribute, killed them, or moved them off the land. (Continued…)
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