With the deepest regret I would like to return Richard S. Girga’s caustic “sincerest apology” issued in his guest editorial in the Nov. 6 Badger Herald. Girga’s satirized antics of remorse are launched from his confused position that the Multicultural Student Coalition upholds his “being white,” and thus part of the “oppressive white majority,” as the origin of UW-Madison’s current rank as a bottom-feeder in the mucky dregs of a national survey of student diversity on university campuses (UW is 126 out of 150).

Girga claims the new budget increases for the MCSC and the Diversity Education Specialists are based on a skewed “rhetoric of race relations” that has conflagrated UW-Madison’s extreme lack of diversity. Under these discussions of “campus climate,” Girga further laments, “the voice of the student body” has been tragically lost and unheard.

Perhaps Girga and other defenders of the “silent majority” should have attended the first (there were four!) of the MCSC’s budget hearings before the Student Services Finance Committee. Like the rest of the hearings, this one featured the elusive “open forum” that Girga claims was denied him.

It is also ironic to note this fascist denial of the student voice (i.e. the budget hearing) had to contend throughout the evening with the hundreds of students four stories below, bellowing their “Hawaiian” Homecoming spirit into the night as they pounded primitive drums and danced before large paintings of a brown-skinned Bucky surrounded by dusky maidens dressed in hula skirts and coconut bras. I remember quite well hearing their student voice.

Girga derides MCSC’s pursuit of diversity by claiming, “If it is true diversity that is sought,” we should “send recruiters abroad” to recruit more international students who can “truly add something to the overall learning environment here at UW.” Of course, international students can and do contribute to UW’s diversity. What is disturbing in these remarks is Girga’s dismissal of students of color as having nothing unique to offer this university.

Girga omits UW’s deplorable homogeneity with the argument that race does not matter. “Just what exactly,” he asks, ” is the difference between minorities from Milwaukee and whites from the same area? The answer is simple: skin color.” Girga’s analysis upholds that race is not an “accurate measure of diversity” because it blurs common backgrounds such as location.

Girga too easily forgets that Milwaukee is one of America’s most racially segregated cities and features some of the most impoverished sectors in the nation. We cannot allow the tempting claim that race is no longer a factor of opportunity. Wisconsin citizens of color are severely underrepresented in this university.

African-American and Latino students combined comprise barely 4 percent of the student population, while Native Americans comprise less than one percent, although Wisconsin hosts one of the nations’ largest indigenous populations). Of those students of color who do attend UW, 60 percent will leave before their fourth year (all statistical information is readily available on the Plan 2008 website). If UW’s lack of diversity has nothing to do with race, what does?

Much of Girga’s and other critics’ clamor contends the MCSC budget increase is too expensive for an “average” student organization. Girga also claims that MCSC is wasting segregated fees on technological luxuries (such as laptops) and office improvements. Perhaps MCSC should continue to service the needs of the more than 40,000 people on campus out of its current space of a cubicle outfitted with one computer?

As Girga so aptly stated: “Last time I checked diversity had more to do with culture than electronic accessories.” With those words in mind, we could simply forget such decadent luxuries as computers and web pages (which MCSC doesn’t have yet) and instead just get back to our roots and build a nice campfire around which we might hold hands and sing praises of our liberal campus.

That kind of fellowship should really warm up campus climate. I might even paint my face white if it will make Mr. Girga feel more comfortable as a voiceless member of the “oppressive majority.”

Girga’s rhetorical acrobatics have spun the issue of campus diversity into a confused and mangled mess. I do not want his derisive apologies for being white. What I want is for him and the rest of the white campus community to sincerely confront the responsibilities that their being white implies.

Jesse Kiley is a senior majoring in African-American studies and women’s studies.