Our campus claims to be an inclusive place. But with last weekend being Easter, and this weekend being Mifflin, I’ve been thinking about how certain aspects of campus life are really, well, exclusive.
Take Easter, first. I recognize Easter and celebrate it, but I didn’t go home for the weekend. Although the university didn’t do anything to officially recognize the religious holiday, Housing dining units had shortened hours and other services were limited as well. Not everyone celebrates Easter, and Housing doesn’t typically recognize other religious holidays. Now, there’s the argument that even though the university didn’t recognize the holiday or give students days off from class, enough students still went home to warrant closing the dining halls.
But how many students even left Madison for the weekend? And if it is a
matter of slower traffic, well, weekends are always slow compared to
weekdays. I would not be easily persuaded that the decision to restrict dining hall hours over Easter weekend had nothing to do with Easter. However, instead of owning that decision and either rejecting or defending it in terms of its actual reasoning, Housing just…did it. There are a lot of religions that don’t recognize Easter, and there are a lot of people who aren’t religious. The university should have done more to ensure Easter weekend was not exclusionary to those students who do not celebrate it. If this university is truly a secular and inclusive institution, then it should strive to make everyone feel welcomed, and all should show greater respect for diverse religious beliefs.
Now, to completely jump topics, I want to talk about Mifflin. Mifflin is apparently a lot of fun for many students who go, but not all students drink. Madison has a definitive drinking culture, but too often the alternative is ignored. We have great programs that focus on safety if students choose to drink – I distinctly remember that speech from SOAR – but for students who don’t drink, that seeming pervasiveness can be alienating.
About 11,000 people have said they’re ‘attending’ Mifflin on Facebook, and Mifflin shirts will soon be proliferating campus. That’s fine, and if people choose to go to a block party, that’s their choice. But a greater emphasis should be placed on telling students it’s okay not to go. More broadly, the university should make it explicitly clear to students that they won’t be ostracized for not drinking, and then make sure that actually happens. I recognize the university only has so much control over how students interact, but there are ways in which it can lessen the apparent stigma of not drinking. The Substance-Free House? That’s been the butt of many a joke. Students will choose whether they drink, but both choices should be validated.
To switch topics again (because it’s almost finals, and I can’t keep a train of thought going for very long), this campus isn’t really all that accessible for disabled people. My roommate is on crutches, and we’ve realized how hard it would be to get around if one were permanently disabled. So many doors don’t open mechanically, elevators are not only terrifying but hard to find, bathroom stalls are narrow and the showers in our dorm have these little wall you have to step over to get in. It’s not that it’s impossible to get around, it’s just that it’s a lot more difficult than for people without a disability. And that reality is too often ignored. And with the proposed changes to the 80s’ bus routes, it’s only going to be that much harder for people to get around. I can’t speak from a very authoritative stance on this topic, but I can empathize, and I think empathy is missing from a lot of university policy. Students with disabilities face daily challenges just getting around campus, and so much is denied them because of those barriers.
Issues of exclusion are both prevalent and ignored on this campus. There are many other dimensions of exclusivity, and this campus isn’t nearly as diverse or welcoming as it ought to be, whether in terms of minority students, students with disabilities, students of various religious backgrounds, or any other personal differences. I think the university does try to be an inclusive place, and this isn’t meant to be a hostile diatribe against the administration. But I do think that there is a lot more to be done, and I don’t think the university can forget that. As students, we shouldn’t let them forget there is still, and always will be, more to do.
Elise Swanson ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in political science and English.
