Diversity at Rice should be more than skin deep

On the surface, Rice appears to be a diverse campus. We can all say that we know a person of this particular race or that specific ethnicity. We can say that we have attended an ADVANCE meeting or a cultural organization’s annual show. On Sept. 19, 1997, Rice adopted a commitment to cultural inclusiveness. University officials recognized their “educational responsibility to prepare students to live, work, serve and lead in our increasingly diverse society.”

But what do all these things mean if our actions and overall way of thinking demonstrate a lack of understanding and respect for all ethnic and cultural groups at Rice? This institution may be proud of its commitment to diversity, but students at Rice are not completely doing their utmost to create an atmosphere of cultural inclusiveness.

I am always afraid that I am being hypersensitive, so I tend to let the little things that happen on campus go by without addressing them, adhering to the principle that you do not make a mountain out of a molehill. But all of those molehills combine to form an enormous mountain. The small, isolated incidences of disrespect towards cultural organizations and diverse individuals at Rice are becoming a barrier and preventing Rice from achieving an atmosphere of cultural inclusiveness.

Over the past three weeks, offensive comments about the Black Student Association, the Caribbean Student Society and the Heritage Organization of Latin America have been made in announcements on three college listservs. For instance, an advertisement written by a college secretary for CSS Night, BSA’s Soul Night, and HOLA’s Colores Latinos stated students should attend these events because “It’s not ghetto, it’s cultural.” An advertisement written by a college secretary on another listserv for CCS Night stated, “Caribbean Student Society event — any one else never heard of this group? Where do they find these people? The Caribbean?” Both comments are, at the least, disrespectful to these organizations.

I do not want to mislead anyone into thinking that diversity is only a racial issue — the barrier preventing cultural inclusiveness exists on all fronts. During the Willy Week barbecue, a group of students made a chalk outline of a pentagram in front of Willy’s statue, lit candles and performed a “ritual” to bring Willy back to life. After they were finished, I approached one of the students and asked him if the ritual they performed was serious, and he responded, “No. It was all a joke, a prank.”

I asked him how he thought Wiccans would have felt about his actions. He gave me a long explanation about how the pentagram is not directly related to Wiccan practices and how he is atheist himself and has no religious affiliation. So then I inquired about his actions from another angle — asking how he thought religious people in general probably felt about the “ritual” and if he thought they might be offended. He responded, “I hadn’t really thought about it. People at Rice don’t take things so seriously. They aren’t offended.”

But people sometimes do get offended, and Rice students sometimes do take things seriously. Many students, like the majority of individuals in our society, fail to realize or even consider the potentially offensive nature of their comments and actions unless they are personally affected by the comments or actions.

This is not to say that any of the incidents that have occurred over the last three weeks were committed with ill intent or with the purpose of offending others. But while harmless and even humorous in intent, each incident chips away at the atmosphere of cultural inclusiveness that we are striving to create and maintain at Rice.

I acknowledge that, no matter what a person says or does, he or she is at risk of offending someone. I am not saying we should all stop and check a politically-correct list of comments and actions before we say or do anything. But I would like us all to be more aware of our comments and actions. The responsibility lies with every student to make Rice inclusive to all individuals.

Kristin Dukes is a Martel College junior.

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