#TheRealUW movement has scored its first major victory: mandatory cultural competency training for University of Wisconsin administration. While this is an important point for the movement, it’s not time for us to grow content with the progress being made. More needs to be done to address cultural incompetency on campus.
Blank agrees to cultural competency training for UW administration
Cultural competency for faculty is a good start, but fellow students have carried out the most egregious acts. White students have created an unwelcoming and intolerant atmosphere at UW.
I am a culturally incompetent individual who attends to UW. I come from a city of 4,000, where 96 percent are white, racist, sexist and bigoted. My peers and I never learned how to be an inclusive member of society, having never experienced anything close to real diversity.
Confronting #TheRealUW: Marginalized students reveal experiences of an unwelcoming campus
Are preconceived notions about race and sex confronted or challenged when someone arrives at UW? No. They linger below the surface, with just an email from the administration as the only course of action when visible incidents of hate occur.
Students need to be trained in cultural competency. All of us should be allies. That means moving from a mere three credit class to a comprehensive program that challenges preconceived notions and promotes understanding of traditionally marginalized groups.
As students arrive at UW, inherent biases should leave. Professors, not the students of #TheRealUW movement, should be the ones doing the educating.
While hate and bias didn’t start here, this is where they should end. Administration is a good start for removing biases from UW, but the change needs to start with the students. Until we address this problem, UW will not be an inclusive university.
Aaron Reilly ([email protected]) is a freshman majoring in social work and economics.
