The
University of Michigan’s lack of diversity is a democratic failure, but the one
thing I have begun to understand more and more is that a lack of diversity is
a democratic failure in MANY ways. As illustrated in the first blog post, a
lack of diversity in leadership positions is a democratic failure and the
democratic failures just seem to continue. Through conducting interviews I have
realized a sobering fact, that I am a part of the problem of diversity. A big aspect of the problem of not having enough diversity on campus means that
there are too many people considered the “norm” promoting, whether intentional
or not, their ideas of what is the norm and how things should be done. The lack
of diversity is a democratic failing in so many more ways than I even initially
realized until I began talking to minorities about these issues. I would like
to believe I have never been unaccepting or exclusive, but I am so involved in
my own life and problems, that I did not realize some of the bigger problems
happening on campus around me. I did not realize that I could be adding to the
problem, as so many of my fellow students are. Was I or am I, still projecting
my ideas of the norm and thinking that my issues are more important than
others?
Through the theory of oppression illustrated by Iris Marion Young in Justice and the Politics of Difference, the
minorities on campus are being ignored.
As Young explains oppression is, “institutionalized
social processes which inhibit people’s ability to play and communicate with
other or to express their feelings and perspectives on social life.” (38, Young)
She continues on to explain, “Culture
imperialism involves the universalization of a dominant group’s experiences and
culture as the norm, and its establishment’s as the norm.” (59, Young) That
is exactly what is happening on this campus. The lack of awareness, the lack of
action, the lack of a very in depth race and ethnicity requirement or attention
to a multicultural center is promoting cultural imperialism, a smaller aspect
of the greater and scarier oppression.
Michael
a student who identifies as a man of color in the school of education had more
light to shed on the problem of diversity. I did not even realize
the dominant group, the group considered the norm on campus, was oppressing
others until Michael pointed it out. He explained, “It took a national movement for Trotter to get attention, and obviously it was neglected because it got a ton of money.”
That national movement was Being Black at Michigan, where students shared what their experiences were like, and the list of demands they had to improve the university, one of them being improving and moving the Trotter Multicultural Center. (Freed, 2014)
That national movement was Being Black at Michigan, where students shared what their experiences were like, and the list of demands they had to improve the university, one of them being improving and moving the Trotter Multicultural Center. (Freed, 2014)
.jpg)
Here we have a blatant
example of cultural imperialism. The University, whether intentional or not,
and I, whether intentional or not, assumed my way of life was the norm, I have
never been in the Trotter Multicultural Center, and clearly, to the University,
this was not of importance, until there was the national campaign that Michael
spoke of for it to receive attention. The oppression the university had placed
on black students was broken, according to Young’s definition, and they were
able to “express their feelings and perspectives on social life,” by them speaking out about what life is like for them on this University. Did they cause
a permanent change in breaking the oppression of minorities? One of the demands of this national movement was that Trotter got addressed, but
has there been other, long lasting changes to oppression and fixing to the lack of diversity on campus? (Freed, 2014) I guess that is ultimately for you
to decide. Yet while thinking about if changes have been made to the oppression of certain students on campus, how many more examples of oppression can you think of that have not been changed?
Young, Iris Marion. 1990. Justice and the Politics of
Difference. Princeton University Press. Princeton, New Jersey.
Metwally, Camy., Akhtar, Allana. December 17, 2015. Regents
approve new multicultural center. The Michigan Daily. Web.
Freed, Ben. January 20, 2014. Being Black at the University of Michigan
organizers threaten ‘physical action’ if demands aren’t met. Mlive.com. Web.
Student Life, Campus Information, University of Michigan. 2016. Web.
No comments:
Post a Comment