OPINION & EDITORIAL
Breaking in the concept of diversity
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Also by Lamont Smith:
- Studet orgs provide opportunity, take advantage (May 2, 2002)
Related Stories:
- Diversity isn't just color (September 7, 2001)
- Creating a point for 'diversity and climate' (February 11, 2003)
- Neo-segregation occurring on campus (November 19, 2001)
- Complete campus climate (January 29, 2002)
- In the Name of Diversity (September 6, 2001)
by Lamont Smith
Thursday, May 9, 2002
The discussion about diversity has sparked great interest within the campus community and has, without a doubt, intensified over the past five years. At times, I am not sure if everyone is referring to the same concept of diversity. Some feel the concept means getting more “minorities” to come to this school. Some say get more conservative ideas on campus. Some probably still think it’s just getting more black people.
Whatever diversity is, most members of the UW community have the idea that diversity is attaining more of somebody and something we as a university don’t currently have or offer enough of in the collective composition of people and activities that comprise the UW educational experience.
Last week, I wrote a guest opinion that stressed the importance of having the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities to diversify educational opportunities available to UW students, in particular student organizing. In that piece, I attempted to make a connection between the necessary condition of providing diversity in terms of both people and experiences on campus before there can be any claim made of ideological diversity existing.
However, rather than saying, “At a university that struggles to provide both racial and cultural diversity, and as a result ideological diversity, the administration should not look a gift horse in the mouth when assessing the student organization program,” the piece was edited to say “as well as ideological diversity” by The Badger Herald.
Not only did this reflect an impulse of some individuals to impose a personalized conception of diversity on my ideas, it reflected that depending on the conception of diversity, the term could be viewed in at least two different ways.
The connection between increasing racial and cultural diversity, and how it benefits UW as an institution by providing increased ideological diversity, cannot be understated. Cultural diversity is a crucial component that is often not adequately factored into the discussion about diversity. In educational policy studies, the academic definition of culture is a set of beliefs, ideologies and practices shared by a group of people. This definition goes on to further acknowledge that a person’s background — primarily their family, location of residence and schooling — will be the strongest determinants of that individual’s culture. This must also include the way they lives their life.
At this university, 85 percent of students share at least one determinant of culture — probably the most important determinant at that — in race. It is not hard to tell a large portion of the university, including the administration, is operating on the same set of cultural understandings and norms and shares similar, if not the same, ideologies. Not to mention that an extremely significant percentage of those people shares other determinants of culture, such as family, economic background, location of residence and lifestyle. Diversity of ideas is just not possible, to its fullest and most inclusive extent, under these conditions.
So-called scholars, such as conservative intellectual Dinesh D’Souza, are dead wrong when trying to argue that institutions of higher learning must concern themselves with increasing the diversity of ideas and not racial or cultural diversity. It is not possible to have the former without the latter two.
Diversity can mean a lot of different things. The most important development on this campus will be when all the entrees that are brought to this educational potluck make it out of the kitchen and onto the table. Even if we don’t all choose to eat together, we all are entitled to the enjoyment of our educational meals in peace (as long as we don’t skip or steal to get our food).
This means the concept of diversity should consist of as many discrete components as possibilities of different individual backgrounds and lifestyles. Working on how to respect each component will be the biggest challenge this campus will likely ever face.
Lamont Smith (lsmith3@students.wisc.edu) is a senior majoring in economics and political science. He is the former chair of ASM’s Student Services Finance Committee.
