Institutional Racism and Higher Education
Then in May, our nation was roiled once again in racial violence with the murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minnesota. As a result, many companies, organizations, and institutions published statements of support and a commitment to change. What's disheartening is that the murders of Black men, women, boys and girls have been happening for time out of mind, and in recent memory have been viewed and heard in social media for at least a decade. Four years ago I walked in a Black Lives Matters (BLM) march in Providence, and in 2013 I participated in a memorial at a college in the same city for Trayvon Martin after his death in 2012. Racial violence and oppression, and white supremacy and privilege has been with us...always. So, is the murder of Mr. Floyd (and Breonna Taylor and so on and on and on) going to make a difference structurally? Institutionally?Yet the current president is the same president when asked explicitly about diversity when he was interviewing for his job, he talked about the LA riots. I was dumbfounded and wondered to myself, "Does he equate diversity to violence perpetuated by people of color?" BTW, it was a white staff person who came to me later and asked if I heard what she heard and was wondering about his response as I did and felt as uncomfortable as she did. This is also the same president when meeting with him to discuss how students from REJ wanted to address the inordinate incarceration of BIPOC, he dismissed the statistics. When I further recounted the history of racial violence and its impact on black families today, he questioned the veracity of what I stated.
(Sidenote: A perhaps forgotten fact about REJ, it was started by one white male student who took a sociology class from a Latinx professor who was later dismissed from campus for reasons that are still unknown to many today. It was that class and that professor who upended that student's beliefs as he began to understand and accept his white privilege. He met with me with a desire to start an organization to challenge his white peers about privilege, power and position due to race. REJ traveled to Jackson, MS and Birmingham, AL year after year as a way to be confronted by the history of racism in the US and to be taught biblical principles about racial justice by Dr. John Perkins then be able to bring those lessons back to campus and to their homes.)AIn addition, I can recall the many times I heard some white faculty and staff scoff at hearing about the privilege they had and even stating how they felt disadvantaged for being white. And seemingly every year there was a debate among faculty as to what the college "meant by diversity" even when a theological statement to define diversity and inclusion was written by their own colleagues and approved by administration.
I saw BIPOC faculty be denied tenure because they weren't a "good fit" which are often code words to indicate that the candidate for hire or tenure was not "white enough." Even when faculty were living lives as being white (i.e. going to white evangelical churches, married a white partner, held white theological views, spoke unaccented American English - unless it was European then it was cool, intelligent and acceptable), they were still denied tenure or relegated to the side lines. And in one case, an office placed in the basement of the library because the white faculty didn't want to share their space with the newest BIPOC faculty member.
When I was training a group of counselors, one opined that the racist experiences of BIPOC students were perhaps a misunderstanding on their part and that white students had the same type of experiences. This is called an "explain-away" as written by Dr. Maura Cullen in her book 35 Dumb Things Well-Intended People Say. And there is not enough space to share about the white supremacy enacted in chapel week after week through the words ("sermons"), music, and the majority of the guest speakers. I do recall how a chapel speaker kept stating how tofu was lacking in taste and how she couldn't imagine anyone choosing to eat tofu. When AAPI students called out in chapel how offensive her words were, she dismissed them out of hand. Students asked me to speak to the chapel speaker, and when I raised the request with my supervisor and colleagues, there was a hesitancy to confront a popular (White and female) speaker who also happened to be the spouse of a very popular and renown pastor in northern California. It seems like tofu is such a small thing yet these so-called small things are microaggressions that create an unwelcoming and even hostile campus climate.
Another example is the previous campus pastor's stereotyping of Latinx during chapel. As a result. I worked with a student to have a study using materials from Sojourners that would be during the chapel time slot (and students would receive chapel credit) to discuss race and racism. It was a remarkable opportunity with students, faculty and staff. Yet we were later told that the series could not continue due to "lack of funding." Another unnamed probable reason was that the campus pastor didn't want to give up that time for a bunch of students to learn about, grapple with and discuss race and racism in the Christian church (and in chapel and on campus).
Although I'm heartened by former colleagues who wrote and signed a "letter of lament" this past spring of 2020, and signed a "statement of confession" in 2017 to indicate their support for "vulnerable populations" in the United States, it seems as though not much has changed. At the same time, Westmont is not the only campus that has grappled with and failed at addressing diversity, inclusion, and racial/social justice. When I left Westmont (due to the anti-LGBTQ+ policies), I faced many of the same issues about race and racial injustice at my new workplace in Rhode Island. When I left that place to return to graduate school, I experienced microaggressions as a student and as a graduate staff worker. I blogged about my experiences for two years before starting a new job as a clinical counselor at a liberal arts college with no religious affiliation. And guess what? There too. And yes, also at the campus where I'm working now.
I recognize that my direct experiences at Westmont College as the former director for Intercultural Programs was over 9 years ago. Even so, I sincerely want to believe that the college, a place which I had loved and supported me through some of the most difficult moments in my life, to follow through on their recent stated promises. As a Christian, I continue to hold onto a shred of hope and at the same time, I find myself disappointed by Christian liberal arts colleges and universities that tout Christian values when addressing diversity, inclusion and racial/social justice.
It's vitally important that white administrators, faculty and staff to ask the hard questions of themselves. Why now...really? What would it mean to look to and seek out Black pastors and theologians to guide even direct the college's transformation to be anti-racist holistically and theologically, e.g. chapel and academic courses?
Bottom line, these issues are much like the virus, as it infects all of higher education. At times it's much more obvious and there's a reactive response to contain it through commitment statements, empty (and often unkept) promises, one-time anti-bias training, a "campus read" of a book, and hiring token staff. While other times, it's unseen and unheard by the majority and they go on as if there's no problem while those who are most sickened by racism are dying both figuratively and literally.
