In an effort to address issues of racial climate on campus, the Student Programming Office (SPO) sponsored a panel of students, faculty, and administrators. The panel was moderated by Karl Bell, assistant dean in the SPO. "Thanks to you all for being here tonight to talk about our campus," he said. He walked down the center aisle of the room, leading students in the "We Are BC" chant more commonly heard in Alumni Stadium. "Except when it comes to race, class, and gender," Bell said. "In those cases, we splinter into our segregated enclaves."
"When we judge people, we usually judge them by, 'Oh, you're CSOM, you have no heart,'" said panelist Jennifer Liao, Asian Caucus president and CSOM '10. Liao said that each person has a story behind who they are and that this story affects their relationships with others. Liao said that her childhood was thoroughly intertwined with her Taiwanese and Chinese heritage. "When I started school, my elementary school was very mixed racially, and I learned that people communicate in different ways," she said.
Liao said that freshmen face particular problems assimilating into the campus environment. Freshmen may feel awkward, out of place, or inadequate, Liao said, so they have a tendency to look for places where they can be at ease. "They sort of limit themselves to the Asian-American community," Liao said. She advises students to use their interests to overcome differences. "Find friends who have the same interests, and through those interests you will understand their culture better," she said.
Wensie Caillet, A&S '10, said that she wanted to promote more dialogue about race on campus. "I think its very important that we enhance this discussion," Caillet said.
Ines Maturana Sendoya, director of AHANA student programs, shared some of her own experience of diversity in a school environment. "For many years I was the only black student in my school until my brothers and sisters came, and then it was the four of us," she said. "I want to challenge us at BC to think about ways we can open spaces to include all of the selves."
Michael Reer, editor-in-chief of The Observer and A&S '10, said that discussion should focus more on socio-economic than racial barriers.
John McDargh, a professor in the theology department, is on sabbatical this year, but returned to BC to participate in the conversation. Born in the South, McDargh's mother's Pennsylvanian and Roman Catholic roots forced him to confront a racial reality different from that around him.
"I began to encounter a narrative about human beings that was very different from that around me," he said. He remembers racially-segregated facilities. McDargh said that he was forced to encounter his father's racial prejudices, a man who told him that he would throw McDargh out of the house if he ever dated a black woman. Incidents such as this one led him to lose respect for his father as a moral figure, he said.
Eve Spangler, a professor in the sociology department, said that her parents, who were Holocaust survivors, brought her up in an environment that was aware of racial difference. "They knew that all of my schooling and testing would be in English, so they only spoke English to me, which they themselves had learned from The New York Times." She said that, as a result, when she went to school she spoke a sort of stilted, press corps version of standard written English. "I went to Brooklyn College, where my biography was pretty common," she said.
Stefano Barros, Cape Verdean Student Association member and A&S '11, transferred to BC from St. John's in Philadelphia. He too had bilingual parents, and a relation to the language of his native country was important to his upbringing. "My parents spoke to me a lot in Cape Verdean Creole, but when we moved to Canton from Boston, they stopped," he said. As a result he has difficulty keeping up with some of his relatives' conversations.
Barros said that St. John's was much more diverse than BC. "I was around more people like me," he said. "When I came to BC, I was really excited because I didn't think there were any social, racial, or class issues here."
Jamal Bell, a professor in the communication department, was in the audience and asked those present and on the panel what everyone could take away from the discussion that evening.
Karl Bell asked those present whether the campus was ready to be proactive about changing the way different racial groups act and interact. "I don't think we're all there yet. I challenge everyone to educate themselves first," said Earl Edwards, AHANA Leadership Council president and A&S '10.
"I think we're there, I really do," Barros said.
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