I’d like to start with the positives.
The amount of discourse sparked from recent articles in The DePauw is something to celebrate. Though we haven’t all agreed with our peer’s pieces, the effort to get involved and form an opinion is crucial, and our generation is constantly receiving flak for not doing it enough.
After reading Connor’s, Ashton’s, and (with patience) Grant’s piece, I’m proud to be a member of this critically-thinking student body.
That being said, I did hear a comment today from a friend of mine that was particularly disturbing. She was angry at Ashton’s article “Excuse Me, Your Privilege Is In Our Way” for putting DePauw under harsh fire, for “advertising our racism” and as a result, “scaring away” potential students from enrolling at DePauw. I find this incredibly offensive.
Not to take away from the pressing issue of racism, but I was immediately reminded by my peer’s comment of rape victims who are encouraged by their school’s administrators to keep quiet in order to preserve the lightness of their university’s reputation. Universities hesitate (and in some cases, have actually refused) to report another rape statistic and provide the representation their victim is asking for in order to avoid bad press, because god forbid a high school senior discover that this nation’s rape culture has infiltrated the school’s grounds.
Just like how “slut-shaming,” victim-blaming, and rape culture’s various other faces aren’t put through a filter once they’ve reached a university’s campus, racism doesn’t stop at DePauw’s pretty new entrance. We can’t let the fear of hurting our image keep us from publically critiquing DePauw’s inadequacy to integrate.
Take me for example: I’m a renowned feminist who jumps on her soapbox any chance she can get, and people hate me for it! This backlash keeps me humble. So humble that I’d never use myself as a model example for how we all should act in this article I’m writing. Nah. That’s not me.
So before we enter the actual process of desegregating (which I imagine is a long, dark tunnel with its light in distance but still years away), briefly pat ourselves on the back. This month, while other liberal arts colleges are sweating to keep their own failure to diversify under wraps, we came forth and owned up to our campus’s critical flaw. That made us that much closer to actually getting anything done about it.
A word to universities: have a little faith in 18-year-old applicants. They know your school is not a safe-haven, a perfect little Pleasantville exempt from society’s impurities. To risk sounding like an AA sponsor, admitting we have a problem is the first step to recovery.