"Diversity is a fundamental part of academic excellence at Occidental, not something separate and apart. Diversity of race, of income, of religion, of nationality, of viewpoint-all these challenge our students inside the classroom and out, preparing them to thrive in an increasingly complex and intertwined world"-Excerpt from Occidental's website
With the recent harassment on Oxy's campus, its good that the school has taken the initiative to hold a campus wide discussion about discrimination against the LGBTQ community. I hope that during this forum, we can come up with some ways to make the LGBTQ community feel safe and comfortable on our campus. However I am still not convinced that this discussion supports Occidental's statement of being an institution that values diversity.
It wasn't until after the harassment on our campus, did we realize that discrimination against the LGBTQ community is alive and well and something that we should talk about. We should have been having these discussions/panels well before these incidents happened, not only educate ourselves about their struggle but also to expose ourselves to the diversity of sexuality. Actively talking about LGBTQ issues (or any other social justice issues) could help expose this diversity and challenge students about their own biases outside the classroom as the excerpt says.
Also, these frequent discussions/panels woul also show the student body what kind of institution Occidental really is. It would prove that Occidental is an educational institution that not only cares about these issues, but also wants to be a hate free zone.
I guess in short, my point is that it does bother me how we never seem to want to talk about these issues until it happens too close in our space to ignore. We should not wait until the damage has been done to start talking.
I understand your point but also recognize why talking about LGBT issues as a community doesn't happen year round. I think the expectation for us as students is that we will respect all of each others differences, sexuality included. The point is that until those standards of trust are broken, it shouldn't even be an issue we should have to talk about. Kind of like, if it's not broken, don't fix it.
ReplyDeleteI do think that smaller scale conversations can be positive, but we already have the Ally program (http://www.oxy.edu/x7978.xml) and such, even though many students don't know it exists. Maybe we should be working on publicizing the resources Oxy already has to encourage discussion.
For me, the recent harassment at Oxy has really struck home. It's made the oppression of LGBT people and the surrounding intolerance very clear-- it's no longer something that we just talk about in the classroom but that doesn't apply to our community.
ReplyDeleteIf it can happen in Pauley, it can happen anywhere at Oxy. If it can happen at Oxy, it can happen anywhere. The problem has come to our doorstep and I think it's really good that the administration and the students recognize it.
How did the forum go? I hope someone posts a blog about what happened and overall impressions about whether you think it will improve the situation at Oxy.
ReplyDelete