Do you think it’s a good idea to provide diversity training for students who come from predominantly white regions, like Wisconsin?
What about giving students tips on how to avoid stereotyping their peers based on skin color?
Universities are including the answers to these questions in new student orientations. In response to several racially motivated incidents on campus last year, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has a new diversity presentation for incoming freshmen students this year — just one piece of a larger diversity program expected to cost between $150,000 and $200,000.
Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts has a chief diversity officer tasked with educating incoming students on the new campus vocabulary. The campus vocabulary isn’t anything new; microaggressions, safe spaces, and trigger warnings are all included.
Wesleyan University has a presentation on how to intervene in situations involving campus sexual violence, harassment and problematic drinking, in which students act out the fictional scenarios.
Programs like these are a survival strategy. Following the highly publicized racial taunts at the University of Missouri, colleges have started to incorporate diversity curriculum to reduce the possibility of such incidents happening again. Around 75 chief diversity officers have been hired by colleges in the past 18 months. This isn’t just some social justice warrior agenda being pushed on campuses; it’s sheer necessity. The University of Missouri has already seen reduced enrollment because of its racial controversy, and other universities aren’t keen on following them.
But as is to be expected, not everyone is on board with these programs. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is facing criticism from state Republicans on its diversity program funding request. Other colleges have faced backlash from alumni and donors who feel the new diversity procedures, and student activism are damaging their college’s reputation. A student group at Princeton called the Open Campus Coalition wrote an article for the National Review about how the college’s policies have created an atmosphere of bullying and repressed speech.
The issue of campus diversity programs is more complex, though. On one side you have the administrations themselves and the programs they’re pushing. On the other, you have the diversity activist students who protest invited speakers, shut down other students, and increase hostilities in general.
The administrations are trying to educate students to avoid the landmines of racially and culturally diverse campuses. They use open discussions; letting students ask questions and get clarification and understanding on issues of diversity.
Student activists take a more confrontational approach. It gets them noticed, and they’ve definitely won a few fights with administrations, but they’re viewed as extreme. They use protests, intimidation tactics, and direct confrontation to accomplish their goals.
Having students learn about the nuances of race relations isn’t harmful, much less wrong. It’s how they learn about, and deal with racial strife that matters.
