Colleges have always been a major source of activism and controversy. For decades now, a split among races within American education systems has been prominent creating tension between neighboring towns and even between students at the same university.
Recently, a video surfaced of a UVA student calmly stating that there are, “too many white people” in their brand new Multicultural Student Center (MSC). She argues that a MSC should be a safe place for people of color to hang out, collaborate, and meet about classes. The unnamed black student also mentions that white people can hang out anywhere else on campus if they would like.
Interestingly, the University of Virginia also has three other centers: the LGBTQ+ Center, Latinx Center, and an Interfaith Student Center. These centers all have more specific names than “Multicultural” which can create some ambiguity about who the area is more designed for.
As for the MSC, the now deleted MSC initiative page said, “This center can become a space that is not only used by minority students but also by everyone at U.Va.” This clearly states that the center not only allows, but also encourages all students to go to the MSC to share thought and work together. This idea is outlined by the initiatives three main words, “meet, collaborate, innovate.”
This, then, makes me wonder. While I think POC deserve an on campus safe space like those of the Latinx Center and the LGBTQ+ Center, then was the Multicultural Student Center created under the wrong reasons, or was the student simply in the wrong?
Since UVA is a state school, I kept in mind that they aren’t allowed to discriminate, meaning all people had to be allowed in all spaces. However, with that same idea, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a state school, says on the page for their MSC that it is, “particularly for students of color and other historically underserved students.” While it doesn’t mention that white people aren’t allowed to go there, they also do say how it encourages an inclusive learning environment, and of course they cannot exclusively say that white people aren’t allowed because the federal laws in place.
Further, Boise State University has the same idea for the Multicultural Student Services saying that they’re, “committed to raising awareness and understanding about marginalized and oppressed groups…”. As a third example, the University of Rhode Island says that their MSC, “promotes access, equity and individual growth for traditionally underserved students…”.
Through my research, I see other state schools gear their MSC’s mission towards promoting equality and providing a safe space for those historically oppressed.
However, UVA didn’t word their mission statement for the MSC the same way. Does it mean that an MSC is inherently for previously oppressed groups? UVA’s goal was clearly that all races and backgrounds could get together and collaborate to work for a common goal.
Shaun Harper, the executive director at the USC Race and Equity Center, and also a POC, says that these MSCs are perfect places for white people to learn more about other cultural identities and histories. Harper also completed research at the University of Pennsylvania where he interviewed over 10,000 students and faculty members about race. Being that USC is one of the most diverse schools in the world, he decided to continue his work there, opening his Race and Equity Center on campus. The USC center has had far more success than the UVA MSC had within its first four days of being open.
Considering that ⅔ of the UVA population is white, and at USC the white population is less than ⅓, it kind of makes sense that Harper’s initiative worked better there. There are fewer white people at USC, so there is less of an issue with white people at their Race and Equity Center and there is a greater sense of diverse inclusion than a center created for diversity that is predominantly white.
What is also important to consider in this is UVA’s racist history. The institution’s buildings were originally built by rented, enslaved people. Thomas Jefferson even stated that, “he understood it to be an institution with slavery at its core…”.
Fast forward to 2017, when the Charlottesville Riots began. White supremacists and counter protesters met at the Thomas Jefferson statue on campus to claim it as their own. This subsequently led to violence from both sides, causing one death and numerous injuries. Marcus Martin, the vice president of diversity and equity at UVA, has spoken about a desire to move past prior ideologies like Jim Crow and the main driving ideas behind the Charlottesville Riots such as “Unite the Right”.
It is possible that the especially inclusive nature of the mission for the MSC is to move past any type of separate but equal issues. This MSC initiation was clearly an attempt to address and begin to erase their racist past, however this specific student from the video seemed to like it separate and equal better. Perhaps if there was more diversity on the campus to begin with, there could be a better chance at gearing away from this divide.
Some people view this movement away from integrating as a way to show pride for their heritage. Black student unions, segregated dorms and facilities, and divided extracurriculars have grown as racial prejudices decline. However, Richard Vedder, an Economics professor at the University of Ohio, writes that the school’s diversity coordinators combat diversity issues by creating more divides. For example, the diversity coordinator at Ohio University wants to create, “a workout room in the campus recreational center open only for minority students — white students, who pay student activity fees to support the center, would be excluded.”
It seems as if much of the racial divide in schools that we still see is from the very people who encourage diversity. Shaun Harper of USC may have had it right by encouraging all races to go to the Race and Equity Center because it discouraged exclusion. The UVA administration may have even had it right to not encourage a minority only student center.
While many schools say their multicultural services are more geared towards minorities, these resources should be available in the same student center everyone else goes to in order to be truly equal. Giving minorities their own student center with their own resources seems like a good idea, until you really think about the fundamental idea of Jim Crow, separate but equal.
This makes me circle back to the unnamed UVA student who kindly said there were too many white people and that they could hang out literally anywhere else on campus. Many tweets in response to this video claimed that this was reverse racism, but other replies said that that was her main point. If white people went years hanging out in their own spaces, separately, then why can’t black people.
This argument may be fair, but that is only if you believe that two wrongs make a right. The MSC could be divided, or student unions and clubs as well as social groups already seem to separate or integrate dependent on the opinions of the participants. Moreover, it is important to consider that modern day segregation stems from government structure and indirectly from policy. Creating a building on campuses that encourages separation works against the main goal of equity. After all, main campus student centers aren’t for only white people; they’re for the entire student body.
As much as I am all for diversity and POC pride, there seems to be something counterintuitive about a MSC. As I initially watched the video of the UVA student, I agreed with her, but further looking into the situation, I see an irony of fighting for diversity with segregation as a weapon.
Alternate solutions to promote diversity on college campuses could include more personal change, such as getting to know the people around you with an open-mind, being informed about issues, celebrating cultural differences, and learning from each other. Harper, from USC, said that learning from people from different backgrounds is “fruitful”. We can learn information we would never learn in the classroom from integrated, diverse communities, so why continue to segregate it?
Pride among people of color is extremely important, and in recent media, natural hair movements and natural beauty movements are more popular than ever before. We see pop stars like Lizzo rise to fame, as she encourages body positivity. Deeper skin tones and ethnic hair are becoming more included in social norms and are being increasingly accepted among the traditional standards of beauty.
Unfortunately, while we are making leaps and bounds being socially accepting of minorities and other ethnicities, we are still seeing deep fundamental divides in society that must be overcome. We find that fire cannot be fought with fire and that in order for real change to be made, personal reform may be the most effective solution.
Governments indirectly implementing unequal policies or ignoring certain issues in our country is a current issue in education as well as in other societal structures and minds of people who still believe that the color of your skin determines numerous parts of a person’s character, however, both sides are at fault. While sparking violence at the statue of a Founding Father may temporarily deal with frustration, solutions are deeper than that, and Multicultural Student Centers are merely a band-aid to make it look like change is being made.
