UW-Madison students, faculty and staff have used the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to intensify what many see as a long-overdue dialogue about campus climate.
According to sources, UW Chancellor John Wiley had already told many of his colleagues that campus climate would be his No. 1 issue, and since the attacks he has held three separate listening sessions with people from the UW community and taken out full-page advertisements in major media outlets across the city and campus.
Wiley said the attacks, and the alleged backlash of the attacks against Muslims, strengthened his resolve that UW needed to embrace this issue on a larger scale.
“What happened on Sept. 11 added a new dimension to campus climate,” Wiley said. “[It’s] something we should have been already doing.”
Wiley said these events pressured him into speaking out on the issue.
“That did affect the timing of the listening sessions,” he said.
Dean of Students Alicia Chavez said she was aware that some people feel the administration’s recent dwelling on campus climate issues is unnecessary, but said the attacks merely “crystallized” an already-important issue.
“[I] did hear that rhetoric, and I would disagree with that,” Chavez said. “Climate issues are always a concern. I think the Sept. 11 crisis was used as a clarifying point. National tragedies and campus tragedies tend to do that.”
Members of the UW Police Department, the Chancellor and a variety of student leaders have taken advantage of the attack and it’s ramifications, which have left many students of color complaining they feel targeted by the backlash, and are working hard to combat general campus feelings of intolerance.
UWPD recently put out a brochure highlighting the definition of hate crimes and, along with Wiley and Chavez, have been asking students to report hate crimes and other situations as they happen.
Though Wiley reports there have been 18 unofficial hate crimes or other acts of intolerance since the attacks, there have been no official reports to either the Dean of Students office or UWPD.
According to UWPD Captain Dale Burke, it does not matter whether these acts are officially happening or not. What is more important, he said, is that students feel targeted and harassed.
“For most people their perception becomes their reality,” he said. “So if people perceive the climate has changed on campus or that they’re somehow being targeted . . . in their mind that exists.”
Burke said the UWPD is aware of problems and are taking steps to be sensitive in dealing with campus climate issues.
“Just because something hasn’t been reported, you just can’t blow it off,” he said. “It is important that the topic continue to be discussed, that the Chancellor continue to hold these listening sessions . . . but in terms of the police department, in terms of what we can do to hold people accountable, there isn’t anything we can do without that documentation.”
Some students say they do not appreciate the barrage of campus climate discussions being thrown at them by the administration.
“I don’t really think about [diversity], said Melissa Rach, a UW freshman. “There are plenty of other things to think about.”
But many other students, most notably students of color, say it is important that people be confronted with these issues.
“You don’t have to go out of your way, but just acknowledge it,” said UW freshman Sklkime Abadui. “Before the Sept. 11 attacks nobody really cared about Islam, and now everyone is asking what it is.”
Wiley said he understands the heightened focus on racism and cross-cultural issues may push the buttons of students who do not care, but said those students are exactly the ones who need to be reached.
“Some kinds of attempts to improve campus climate can alienate or make matters worse,” Wiley said at his final listening session. “[But those people] who are most outrageous in their behavior toward other groups are personally insecure and inexperienced. I trust that with age and time that will go away.”
Tshaka Barrows, chair of the Multicultural Student Coalition, also said continued discussion about these matters is very important in making this campus comfortable for people from all backgrounds.
“Diversity should be focused on regardless of terrorism,” Barrows said. “Issues that normally come up are amplified in these situations, [but] there’s a lot more happening that students are aware of.”
Barrows said the argument that these discussions may cause a ripple of backlash among students who do not care about campus climate is weak.
“The issue already is backlash,” he said. “Students are being the victim of backlash, and if they don’t talk about it, it will go unchecked.”