By Patrick Greenwell And Dennis O’Neil
As Barack Obama took the stage in Chicago’s Grant Park on Tuesday, Nov. 4, having just secured enough votes to be declared president, many citizens, both white and black, took to rejoicing in the streets or sat with their eyes glued to the television, anticipating Obama’s first address in his new position of leadership. For many, it was a time to rejoice. For others, it was a moment to reflect on just how much America had changed.
Many in the University of Louisville community were no exception.
“I am inspired by [Obama’s] great example,” sophomore communication major Jaison Gardner said. “The tide is shifting in the right direction. He is definitely a black person to look up to.”
“His election reflects the complexity of America in terms of race and ethnicity,” said senior academic counselor Ed Laster, former director of Multicultural Academic Enrichment Programs. “You saw a lot of diversity in the crowds that Obama drew. I think that is a lot more like what America is or is going to be.”
But while Gardner appreciated Obama’s victory, he also saw it as a moment to engage issues of racial and ethnic diversity, with one leaping out in particular: white privilege.
“As a black person in America, it is clear that white privilege continues to perpetuate,” Gardner said. “It exists everywhere, and you cannot escape it. There is no one answer for what it is like to be black in America.”
Enrollment and degree numbers at U of L show that African American and other minority groups on campus are overwhelmingly outnumbered by white students. In its estimated figures for fall 2008, the university enrolled 1,925 black, non-Hispanic undergraduates compared to 12, 230 white, non-Hispanic undergraduates. It also only enrolled 435 Asian or Pacific Islander undergraduates and 295 Hispanic undergraduates.
In degrees awarded for 2005-2006, the numbers stood at 1,736 for whites, 301 for blacks, 76 for Asians and 24 for Hispanics.
With minority students clearly outnumbered on U of L’s campus, Cultural Center Director Michael Anthony said that privilege for any group, not just whites, can be an easy trap for an institution to fall into. He also called higher education “too reactive” and said it can often take a crisis to produce change.
“We have to have a law to tell us to build a ramp so that someone can get to their job,” Anthony said. “We have to really scan our environment and look for the worst situation that could happen on campus in regards to diversity and make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Anti-racism educator Tim Wise said that, often, a sense of white privilege can be embedded in students, not expressing itself in any overt way. He attributed this mainly to a lack of racial self-consciousness on the part of whites who, he feels, don’t have to worry about stereotypes the way minorities do.
“We whites are not worried that our performance will be related to color when in a mostly white university,” Wise said, who will be speaking in Bingham Humanities Auditorium this Thursday from 5:30-7 p.m. He has been invited by the Association of Black Students, and his lecture will be on white privilege.
Wise also said that a pro-active attitude is the only way to solve this problem. One way to do this on a university level is to pay more attention to the standards used for admitting students, some of which Wise feels encourage favoritism of a certain race or class.
“We have to be aware of how [white privilege] operates,” Wise said. “Don’t just sit back and let people of color talk about race issues.”
On U of L’s end, Sociology professor John Busch said he doesn’t feel white privilege or race in general play that prominent a role. He said that, having been involved in the university hiring process for new faculty, they try to diversify as much as possible and never take an exclusionary attitude.
Busch also said that the issue of race is something that needs to be downplayed. He said he feels the objective should be to not think of race automatically, and to try to deal with people more as individuals.
“You see, in recent decades, a lot of U of L students just being students with each other,” Busch, a 34 year employee of the university, said. “We need to see more of that. Race is really quite meaningless.”
Not so in the eyes of Laster, who said he feels higher education institutions are often behind the curve in regards to diversity. He attributed much of this to money matters, singling out the budget cuts that U of L has received in recent years as an obstacle in its diversity mission.
“I could say that I would love to increase minority faculty, but if you have no dollars to do it then it doesn’t happen,” Laster said. “Diversity can go on the backburner for who knows how long.”
Laster continued that a university’s attitude toward diversity during tight times often can reflect how high of a priority it is to them. To him, the task is to figure out where diversity sits on the list.
To Student Government Association President Rudy Spencer, the closure of MAEP and the utilization of the Cultural Center under Anthony shows a clear commitment to diversity on the university’s part. He also said he feels the university does a good job of allowing connection between cultures to happen organically, and not in a forced awkward way.
“If these encounters are between cultures are just happening so that they can happen, then they aren’t really useful,” Anthony said, echoing Spencer’s sentiments. “We really want to break people out of their comfort zones. This renewed commitment by the university will die if we don’t do something.”
For Wise, while Obama’s moment at the podium on Nov. 4 may represent a turning point, the fight against racism remains just as real.
“Racism is not eradicated, or significantly defeated, because of individual accomplishments,” Wise said. “Racism is eradicated by everyday people. We can’t use one amazingly educated political candidate as an example.”
