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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 17, 1995)
The Clackamas Print Page 8 Wednesday, May 17,1995 DIVERSITY / OPINION Student Opinions on Diversity “The plan is poorly worded and as written accomplishes nothing. Since ours is a college with little or no ad missions requirements we will be as diverse as the community around us.” name withheld by request “It seems that a huge amount of an ger has been generated from the in troduction of this Diversity Plan, which seems to be contradictory of the goals of the plan. I don’t believe that the students concerns have even been listened to as opinions that matter at all.” name withheld by request “I don’t believe that we should ac cept any federal dollars or grants due to this program. As a federal tax payer I believe that we shouldn’t be creating new programs when we continue to pay for the old ones.” name withheld “I feel it is a waste of taxpayers money to have a diversity program. “By the time students come to Clackamas they know how to treat other people. It is very downgrad ing to have such courses crammed down our throats.” Emma MacRender “I think students should have been more involved and more informed of the plan before the diversity meeting and I think the administra tion is the one that needs sensitiv ity training...when it came our turn (to speak at the Forum) they rarely answered the questions and they didn’t seem to listen to us. “I was cut off when I was ask ing questions. I think we should have diversity at CCC but I also think we already have it.” Becky Hoggan “It’s vague, and it seems to just be an excuse to hire more “experts” with the taxpayers’ money.” Tony Silva “Sounds like the administration •thinks students here are a single group of white hate mongers instead of the diverse group of individuals that the students here are.” Troy Bosch Diversity... Continued from page 7 put this together. It wasn’t done by some one individual or something. “I don’t think there was any special agenda being served by it at least not in my part,” he said. Uris also said it is important to remem ber, when considering The Plan, that there is a distinct difference between plan and policy. “There is an important difference. The policy of the institution is to encourage di versity, The Plan is a process by which that policy can be reasonably implemented,” he explained. A frequent student concern regarding The Plan is the goal that calls for the one diversity class requirement for all associate’s degrees and certificates. Crooks shared his concerns about the in tended class require ment. “The other thing that I have a prob lem with is the required class for the trans fer degree. I know that a lot of state four year schools are requiring them for gradu ation but not everyone who goes here is going to a state school, a lot of people are going to go to private schools.” He went on to say, “It’s not so much that I think people are afraid of taking a diversity class or that we fear having other ideas imposed on us... students only have so much time, we usually get our 93 cred its to graduate, but if they throw another requirement in there, then it’s something else that we can’t take.... It fills another slot. “I know a few of Dr. Epstein’s classes fall into that ‘diversity category...,’ Those classes are really good, high quality classes; people want to take them. If you just man date something like that you can’t guaran tee the quality.... I think the quality may decline, it may not, but there is the possi bility that it will,” he explained. However, Psychology Instructor, Eric Lewis wondered if people realized that CCC was not trying to impose diversity training, but rather make the transition to four-year schools a bit smoother. “(Some) four-year schools require di versity courses. Do people realize that this is not coming from CCC? They are just trying to stay in line with the four-year Students need to be involved too by Hoyun Choi Staff Writer The Diversity Plan is an is sue of great controversy among the students and faculty of Clackamas Community. Not ev erybody is going to be happy with one decision. It’s just one of those things that is going to be picked at no matter what. Hopefully now, more of the student body knows what’s going on. I was shocked to learn the majority of the students did not even know there was even an ef fort to put together a diversity plan. This plan is going to effect every student, and they should be informed and encouraged to give the board any input they think will be helpful. The main purpose of the last article on diversity was to inform the students of its exist ence. So, I hope many of you have had a chance to read it since it was smack dab on the front page. I personally commend the board for trying to take some kind of action to make people more aware of diversity and to diver sify the college. A big concern of mine, as well as others, is goal number two, part D. This section is suggesting there be established diversity classes which should be required. I believe we have enough required classes as is now. People are rushing to get the re quired classes out of the way so they can move on to their field of study and/or transfer. This would only slow the students down. Making these diversity classes mandatory is probably going to make some students even a bit resentful of the whole diver sity issue. You can’t force people to be diverse and accept it. I think offering diversity classes is a good step, but they shouldn’t be re quired to graduate or receive a transfer degree. It should be there for people who are interested in learning more about diversity over us. Trickle-down P.C. you might call it. I think our collective energies would be better spent elsewhere,” he said. Uris adamently denies any claim that the planning team kept the deliberations secret. “The process has been as open as you can have one be. There have been two fac ulty meetings at which the plan was dis cussed, there have been three faculty sen ate meetings at which the plan was dis cussed, there have been innumerable presi dents council meetings at which the plan was discussed, and these were all open meetings. “There has been one all-school forum which I orga nized to discuss the plan. There have been re quests, and presumably it was carried out, that every department have copies of the plan and that they have a discus sion ... I understand stu dent government has ex tensively discussed the -Joe Uris plan. So obviously how Sociology Instructor much more discussion of “It’s both reactionary, that is against a document can you have? Where do you any idea of change, and I think it has ele say, ‘gee, haven’t we talked about this ments of racism of hatred and fear that re enough?”’ Uris explained. “I can’t think of anything that has been ally is ill-informed and unwise,” Uris as discussed for as long, by as many differ elaborated. Keyser shares similar views. He said, ent groups as this Diversity Plan, for bet “...Some people seem to have a fear that ter or worse. “And I would also point out, we have almost smacks of paranoia. I think it is not justified and it is inappropriate. So in our institutional goals and objectives, a I’ve tried to ease the concerns that seem commitment towards something very much like this...Diversity is an institutional somewhat overstated at this point.” However, Darris disagrees. “The as value,” he said. Painter recognizes the division on sumption is that they’re (those not in fa vor of the plan) against diversity. That’s campus and takes some responsibility for not true. The vast majority have different certain aspects of what people consider a opinions because they’re unique individu lack of information sharing. “Somehow we didn’t do a very good als. I think they (students) feel that the very values that the plan promotes are not be job of informing all the staff that we had ing applied to them, that is, they would already walked through those (the concerns like the dignity and respect too that, maybe raised at the forum) issues. “We hadn’t given all staff an opportu they ’re not racist redneck buffoons. Maybe they’re not quite as stupid as people think nity to vent their opinions on it. We thought it was a good cross representation of all they are/’ When questioned about the plan’s ap staff. Turns out there were a lot more deeper plicability, Darris responded, “I sure don’t opinions, more deeper feelings out there. I see it, I don’t think your guys’ problems is don’t know that they were any more com sexism and racism. I think your all being plex than what we were dealing with in our core groups. screwed equally.” “I guess the thing that surprised me Orrelle questions the applicability of was the anger that seemed to be there. We the plan as well. “For a long time Clackamas has been got frustrated with our group, but we were on the far edge of the pond, but now the always able to come back to center and con ripples of political correctness are rolling tinue to debate - to keep talking and mov schools. And that’s good.... “I’m glad that CCC will identify those classes (that will transfer to meet diversity requirements), but I hope students will not be made to take them here if they don’t want to. But either way they are going to have to take it,” Lewis explained. Although many Plan supporters feel that some opposing views are valid, they are concerned with the possibility that the views may be used as a platform for pro moting racism. “There’s another kind of concern that I really worry about, which is basically prejudice. ‘We’re comfortable with the way things are, we don’t want any changes.’ I can’t think of anything that has been discussed for as long, by as many different groups as this Diversity Plan.... • a awareness and different cultures. I wish everyone was interested in diversity, but the fact is, they’re not. There are many different things that people can learn from other races and cultures, but not everyone is interested and they never may be. I respect the board for their efforts on such a worthy cause, but in some aspects, they are going about it the wrong way, such as what I have mentioned above. After sitting in on one of their council meetings, I realized that they put a lot of effort and energy into constructing the best plan possible for them and for us. The issue that must be re membered is that not everyone is ever going to be totally satisfied with any diversity plan. So, I guess all anybody can do is cross their fingers and hope for the best. I hope this plan does make some sort of positive impact on diver sity awareness. ing towards some kind of agreement,” Painter explained. Even with all the open debating and idea exchanging, the reality that a plan will be implemented remains. While the dis cussion of The Plan has been open to the public, and input is encouraged, the ad ministration has always worked on the premise that eventually The Plan will be installed. “I think people think they will need to vote on whether or not we’re having a di versity plan or not. We don’t vote on ev erything,” Wolfson said. Uris admits that the most current re vision of The Plan is tempered compared to other drafts and allows for a lot of per sonal interpretation. “I think people project, myself in cluded, a lot of their own views onto this document. The document is so mild that it lends itself to that,” said Uris. Lewis believes that this Plan has the potential to see a positive outcome. “This Plan is head and shoulders bet ter than the others. It is a good sign that the school will open up public debates for people to share ideas,” he said. Lewis believes that the final effect of the plan will be positive. “It will be a good, cohesive, effective diversity plan,” he added. Through all the controversy, an inter esting paradox has been observed. That although both sides seem to be arguing for the same basic principles, in actuality, the differences between each side’s arguments are ironically similar. “It is another example of how people on opposing sides really think the same way,” Crooks said. Orrelle believes that a good campus atmosphere requires respect of any individual’s ideas and attitudes, whether they are agreed upon or not. And lack of involvement and comment on this issue would have been, perhaps, even more det rimental than the vocal participation that we have. “I want students to be decent and sen sitive to the rights and differences of oth ers. I like students who are well-behaved and attentive (most are...passive sometimes to a fault), but I also want ,them to exhibit passion for ideas and not censor them selves; this involves dissent, argumenta tion, often enormous conflict, and recog nition of irony and paradox in the human condition,” Orrelle said.
