Oregon daily emerald., May 10, 2004, Page 3, Image 3

JONES
continued from page 2
Yeah, they probably haven't figured out the
rules to the road, especially if they failed to
grasp the rules of immigration. Garcia com
ments, "The state ... is basically telling these
folks to drive illegally." No, Garcia, I think the
message is: You don't have the same rights of
other citizens in this country, because you are
not a citizen.
What if we applied logic like this to other
things in society? 1 don't have the right to go
backstage at a concert unless I have a pass. I'm
sure if my friends and I ran past the guards,
they wouldn't turn to each other and say,
"What are we going to do?" and show us to
the snack room. No, we'd be out of luck and
back with the masses.
So illegal immigrants have to take the bus
from the home they're living in illegally to
the job they're taking away from legitimate
US citizens. I know they need to get to work,
especially because countries like Mexico,
where the second largest source of income is
money being sent back from Mexican citi
zens working in the United States, are rely
ing on them.
Maybe if we put the driver's license office in
the same building as U.S. Citizenship and Im
migration Services, like one of those combina
tion Pizza Hut and KFCs, both problems
could be taken care of at the same time.
Felons and illegal immigrants may be re
sponsible for breaking very different kinds of
laws, but there is one law that affects both of
them: The right to vote. While neither is al
lowed to vote in elections, illegal immigrants
may have a better chance. Despite their lack of
citizenship, often the only identification it
takes to vote is — surprise, surprise — a dri
ver's license.
I'm not sure which is worse: Malicious
killers having a say in electing officials, or peo
ple who aren't even citizens of this country
having a say in our country's politics? At least
we know some of the felons are probably
aware of the issues, because of their quality
television-viewing time.
Contact the columnist
at marissajones@dailyemerald.com.
Her opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
PROVOST
continued from page 1
concerning diversity on campus.
"There are real opportunities
and challenges that need to be ad
dressed," he said.
He said he has found a strong
commitment to diversity initia
tives, such as recruitment and re
tention of students and faculty of
color, but some areas continue to
offer resistance.
"It's not this overtly racist or sex
ist place, but there are places where
people have never had to deal with
people of a different color or ethnic
group," he said. "People feel this
discomfort that's there."
He said the discomfort stems
partly from the small number of
students, faculty and staff of color
and the sense that they need to ad
just to the campus, or what he calls
the "invited guest syndrome."
This adjustment is one of the
reasons Vincent said creating a
"critical mass" of people of color
on campus is so important. He said
those on campus may feel they
need to represent their entire race
or ethnic group.
"If a Caucasian student says a
wrong answer (in class), it doesn't
reflect on their whole race," he
said, adding that this isn't the case
for students of color. "When you
don't have the critical mass, there's
a greater tendency to stereotype."
ASUO Multicultural Advocate
Mark Padoongpatt agreed that with
so few students of color, stereotyp
ing becomes more common.
"That comes with lack of num
bers, that comes with ignorance
too," he said. "We need to show
that there's complexity within us."
Padoongpatt said a larger group
of students of color would make
many people on campus uncom
fortable and would reveal the in
herent racism in some pockets of
the University.
"More people would feel we
would have to address certain is
sues," he said.
But Vincent said achieving that
critical mass will take years of
strategic planning. By the end of
June, Vincent hopes to establish a
committee of students and faculty
members who will form a five
year diversity plan to be imple
mented in the 2005 through 2010
school years.
"When you don't have
the critical mass, there's
a greater tendency to
stereotype... We need
to show that there's a
complexity within us."
Gregory Vincent
Vice Provost for Institutional Equity
and Diversity
"I do think that while we're do
ing that, we'll be able to address
some of the chilly climate issues,"
he said.
One struggle to overcome is the
state's lack of investment in higher
education, he said. Students of col
or are overrepresented in the lower
income brackets; meanwhile,
budget cuts to the University give
students less incentive to come
here, he added.
Padoongpatt agreed financial
barriers keep many students of col
or, especially out-of-state students,
out of the University. He added the
University is not solely to blame
for its lack of diversity, but that oth
er institutions such as high school
and law enforcement systems con
tinue to keep minorities from gain
ing access to opportunities such as
higher education.
"There are other reasons why it's
not working," he said.
Vincent said another challenge
is recruiting faculty of color, which
is vital for creating a comfortable
environment for all people of col
or on campus. He said while the
University community appears to
be a "good, safe, healthy place to
work," the pay is not competitive
despite the high standards faculty
are expected to meet.
Ethnic Studies Assistant Profes
sor Brian Klopotek, who is
Choctaw, said he was attracted to
the University's Ethnic Studies
program, and the University did
offer enough resources to draw
him here. However, he said there
are negative aspects of living and
working in this community.
"I am also consistently frustrated
with the level of racial ignorance,
racial hostility and defensiveness
that comes from people who
would characterize themselves as
racially progressive," he said.
Vice President for Student Affairs
Anne Leavitt said Vincent's time on
campus, specifically the open dis
cussions he held with the commu
nity in past weeks, has reminded
her of how hard current staff mem
bers are working to address these
issues.
"They just need some energy,
some support and some hope,"
she said.
Vincent said everyone at the
University needs to realize the
benefits of a diverse campus,
which is why he plans to be a con
stant presence on campus, provid
ing diversity workshops for every
one. As part of his strategic plan,
Vincent said he hopes people will
begin to think of diversity as a
"core competence" that will bene
fit people in the future.
"We need to be able to work in
an increasingly diverse world," he
said. "It's in your enlightened self
interest because that's a skill."
ASUO President-elect Adam
Petkun said he plans to help
Vincent with his plans next year
by asking future ASIIO multicul
tural advocates to work closely
with the process.
"They've been part of the drive
to have this position hired," he
said. "We're going to work really
hard to make sure there is a
strong voice in the office for stu
dents of color."
Vincent, who has worked in
similar positions at the Universi
ty of Wisconsin, Madison and
LSU, said he was able to help re
cruit 25 faculty members of col
or at Wisconsin and about 30 at
LSU, both over about a 4.5 year
period. He said he also worked
to decrease the racial tension
that existed on the more diverse
LSU campus.
Vincent said the main method
to measure his plan's success here
"We're going to work
really hard to make
sure there is a strong
voice in the office
for students of color."
Adam Petkun
ASUO President-elect
is simply by looking at the
number of people of color on
campus.
"You'll just know by the num
bers," he said. "Have we increased
the number of faculty, administra
tors, professionals and students."
But numbers aren't the only way
to measure success. Vincent said
he wants to ensure that students of
color feel they've had a positive ed
ucational experience while white
students feel they've had a benefi
cial, diverse experience.
Contact the higher
education/student life/student
affairs reporter
at chelseaduncan@dailyemerald.com
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