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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 1995)
Minority student activists shatter the multi-culti myth c > ii I I !> <1, i . 100 IIn jutm and emmimnenulh nmvcmtiv student* nun.li ul u)i lnut lli|(his it) yum in the Michigan Sole l president's ofticr I nun Ulurid the room- -IO h int mm inn olilc, (he president 1 ji ed the music ()iu- mom. fine i iiiw. one pt esurient and 100 "iUhIciiih. demanding that the unnei mi tout the national grape Iwncott a movement designed to protect the lytm ful clkiii n| |w sin till s nn g:a|K Hitilcn I he Jsii Milent listened hut f elusetl in ttukr am loinmimtents I enunn mount 4 thu 1 linjunii arm lit d.itnmcd a bushel nl grapes unto the onyx uhle in i rays. Mon mcmlx-is loiluwed I’tcfti vuin, gi i|ks 11 is i i i .i the tabic and lieu through the ,m t )ne female activist lx gin darn me on the table. smashing gra|»es with even (Xitmdtng step Someone threw a bushel al the president, who had hot all it>rtt|M»ute and called lor an immediate end to the miilnrw It wav the gtajies o| wrath It wav anar i hi in the Ixurd room Mom ot all. it w av a wake up iall Welcome to the world of minority Mu dent activism I«kUv’\ college umpUH' arc full of 'ut h stones Crowing activism among campus minority groups whether bused < mi rave, religion, t'lhrodt) nr sexual orten tution i' transforming the individualised *(K mto group consciousness in (he ‘‘*K Still group activism can Ik- .is exclusive ■i' u i\ inclusive Some claim .1 group's strut concent rut ion on us own issues often ilc!ruts iroin the diversity of 4 lihei jl .ms education \n 1 imposes being Halkaniml as students sink close to their own spec 1.1I mures! groups' Is the stu lb ut IhmIv ill ul Or is ii alive m j diverse. initiviiKult/cil form? “In the past, there have been issues that mobilized students outside of their own immediate interests, like i s w .11 m V ietnam savs Sou.ul I >aiam, assistant professor of sihioIo gv 11 VntiiK’h College in California. “Hut because of ihc emphasis on things like cultural diversity on college campuses, the student struggle has been turned inward, awav from social issues I hev'rc trying to get a sense of who the) are, of their identity, and also of their power ” t >11 the positive side. Dujani s.i\s. " I hcv iH-lieve m siKial justtce and they want to change the world quickly ." I he down side. 1 >a|am explains, is that students may often get caught up in a world of narrow definitions and not see what they have in common with other people. “ I hcv mav l>c cheating themselves out of exploring connections,” she saw By Jeffrey A. Sklar. Michigan State U. (tici: Powers, a senior majoring m tonal ju.ru c 4i \mmch, ha. found him'■(If tn ron Manf turmoil on the .cho.,l\ btehlv p( • which he .all. "Political ( k JUMIlp i ■ jtlipus ' I don't think it's luil that |H'ii|i!c unit a Ini of the uitif idea. hang ««»t fOKcthtr," Poutr. .at. would jii.t think that thee would want to cipliirt' othei culture, anti idea, to have a bet ter understandmi; of the world It um ionvuntlt .ur round tour .elf with »har yoti alnuh believe in, how are you ever going to learn anything about any IwkK chc • " Janie. Heath, jite.i / hate to quote Richard Xixon, hut he said, ‘lie cannot listen to one another until we stop shouting at one another.' Rk ii vrd Nl. |oii, B’nai H’rith ticni at MSI *v l»i,n k >(u<icni • Alt* in \S ONI-, disagrees. " l he hIi j ihji you’ll missing out on tninrthing has no ercthhil its. Iki jck »c learn almut ci cry one else tn all ol our classes," he sa\s "1 rain 8 am to ' p in . »e are learning almut cultures ol other people So from ~ p m. on. m u got to l>c concerned with our u«n culture, or we lt get a totally one sided (loutl ot view \\V nceil to tale the tunc to learn almut ouretltti ’’ I aura Shiplcr, training ami protect eoorihnatoi tor the National Multicultural Institute, a re search ami consulting group tn V\ ashing imr, 1 * ( sas s she glimpsed j different |kt spcctise when she spent 4 semester at Npelman < oikgc m \tlamu "I u.is tme ot tour white students there," Shiplei sjvs "I realized that when sou are a dis tinct iiiiimritv, you’re interacting uith people sslin .nr different from sou all the little “ \s a result, Shipler explains, it mas he the white students si ho miss an iip|M>rtunir> to leant about other cultures ss hen minorities retreat into groups ( urt Shepard, dtrci tor ot tht National ( >ji and I csbtati Iasi forte I1'dit's Institute's ( anitius rrofcu, irui oj>|trc*&c<l group* often feel a need to create .1 iiiinni.in agenda "It's what makes them strong," he sass Soil, Shepard emphasizes lh.it there is 4 looming threat of campus Balkanization when j latk of aiittmuiueation or under standing i jum-s different groups to work against each other ”1 hat’s when it hci.imcs nctrssan lor us to fimis not |ust on gas anil lesbian issues ll sou want peo pie to support sou in your efforts, sou nceii to I sc wilting to work on their issues ami concents as well." Intolerance and misunderstanding among various groups is .i problem that plagues the spec tram of minority student organizations Richard M Joel, international director lor B! B’rith 1 lillel Foundation »nd pii ,i dent of the Foundation hx- Jewish ( nit pus I .tie-. explains that too often people Income myopic in their devotion to their cause. I his may result in hasing one group's legitimacy on the illegitimate of ot hers "We n all on < dgi Joel sav s “Uiil all waiting to see it the man or woman nevt to us is going to embrace us or slap us I hale to quote Richard Noon, hut m his brsi inaugural address, he said. "W t cannot listen to one another until »c slop shouting ai one another ' "We should emphast/c the positive as|H-cts of our identity and our vision ami not take the cheaper path, which is lo unite a constitucncv In declaring a com mon eiicinv that only builds walls, not bridges Vlthough many white students iu.iv think mmoniv issues don't concern them, Shipler, ai tin National Multicultural Institute, says iruc diversitv includes ev ervone Whiles often feel that they should not .isscti their identity js 4 resulf of guilt, a n g ci and/or responsibility ” Shi pier says, In order tor the eatnpus society to continue to function and grow, she saw, jll students, including whites, should make contributions toward tincr site and see their own insights and espcri ernes as valuable “1, as a white person, can contribute something, and I have a real responsibilm to do so," Muplei sac s 1 he l,n k of while student mmements today also toncerns 1 rnrstn 1 odd Mire les, chair of Msl s Hispanic student organization, Mocnnicnto I studuntil ( ho aims dc Milan (Ml < ’ll \). 1 he average \nglo student doesn't sec a need to protest anv thing,” Modes saw “ I hat should send some w arning signs out to people it you’re in college learning all that Western culture can teach you almut freedom and democracy If that doesn’t move you to address some sort of wrong, it's really kind of scan 'What does {hat say about society at large I hat there's a group of people who |ust don't care: \nd if they do c arc. they rc seen as these radical, fringe. Strange people It’s really sad What would people think of I bonus Jefferson these day s? "He's the man who advocated the overthrow of the government by the use of arms What would that make him today- I hat would make him a hunted man."
