'U' prof. studies racial tolerance

Students mixed on ideas of diversity on campus

LSA junior Monique Gifford awoke one cloudy, dim morning in March 1998 in her Mary Markley Residence Hall room to find a paper posted on the door with the phrase "two stupid bitches" and the word "nigger" along with two swastika symbols.

Although initially upset, Gifford said this type of vandalism did not surprise her because she experienced a similar incident in her predominately white high school.

"I was shocked but not panicking. I told my (residential adviser) and immediately called campus security," she said.

Despite the incident that Gifford experienced, she said she is now at peace because, "I see what is happening to my people. This is something so small compared to what we're going through as a whole that I feel I have to be one of the people ready to make a change systematically."

Systematic change is exactly the steps 11 college institutions have taken to improve the campus climate for minority students. The 11 institutions each were given $100,000 by Phillip Morris Companies.

University Education Prof. Michael Nettles presented the results of his study last Saturday at a conference sponsored by the American Council on Education in Albuquerque, N.M. His audience consisted of various "provosts, faculty, administrators and program directors from colleges and universities in the United States, India and some in South Africa," he said.

The study, "Model of Diversity: Pursuing Tolerance in Colleges and Universities," examined race, gender and ethnic issues at 11 college campuses Bethune Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Fla.; Colby College in Waterville, Maine; Columbia College of Columbia University, Davidson College in Davidson, N.C.; Duke University; Haverford College in Haverford, Pa.; Long Island University in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill.; Northern Michigan University; Occidental College in Los Angeles; and University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh.

Nettles studied the programs those institutions have embraced to encourage understanding and acceptance of other cultures and what the universities have done to address racial tolerance issues.

"Colleges and universities seem to be interested in continuing dialog across significant groups in campuses - including faculty, administration and students - identifying the lessons learned from past initiatives and using those lessons to construct new initiatives," Nettles said.

Each of the 11 institutions selected cited past racial, ethnic or gender tensions on campus such as racial slurs and misunderstandings between students and police. Nettle's report details how each institution dealt with those issues.

Colby College, where minority students account for 69 of the 1,752 student population, produced a film titled "Common Ground," which depicted how a fictional college dealt with the issues of race, gender and class issues. The College of Business at Northern Illinois University, where 82 percent of the student body is white, introduced a course called, "Skill Development for the Success in a Multicultural Environment."

The Philip Morris-funded projects tended to focus on race, particularly relations between black and white students, but Nettles found that some of the colleges did not give attention to women and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues, or class issues.

Nettles noted that he has not examined whether the University of Michigan does enough to address racial tolerance issues but added, "I think University takes substantial interest in tolerance, diversity and excellence."

Engineering junior Tim Kraft and Kinesiology first-year student Oren Masserman both echoed Nettles sentiment regarding the University's diversity practices.

Masserman said, "I don't think there's a lot of racism on campus because people respect the wide diversity." In response Gifford's experience with racial tension, Masserman said: "That's one scenario. You're definitely going to have one scenario."

Kraft replied to Masserman's statement, saying, "You can't go through society without racism."

But Kraft added the University community ensures racial tolerance is woven into its institution "through Diag days, speeches, demonstrations and clubs."

But not all students feel the University is doing enough to address racial tolerance and some said experiences like Gifford's are uncommon.

LSA sophomore Jeff Berman said that on Oct. 21 1998, while trying to do homework in the Mary Markley Residence Hall Library, three students were having a conversation that consisted of degrading "blacks, Jews and a few other races."

"The students were talking about blacks and stereotyping how they're good at sports and they said that Jews controlled the world and how Seinfeld had gotten a show because he was Jewish," he said. Berman said in response to the student's statements he "gave those students some not so nice words to ponder."

When asked about the importance of tolerating other races and respecting diversity, Berman said: "I think tolerance goes hand in hand with acceptance and understanding and in order for diversity to work, everyone needs to tolerate everyone else and get along." Berman said diversity and tolerance should be related because "you can learn so much about other races and religions and it destroys stereotypes that one might hold."

University alum Audrey Jackson said, "All students need to learn tolerance for people on the basis of race, gender and ethnicity." Jackson, said that "at the faculty level, even though there is support at the level of policy, we continue to see a lack of a significant increase in the numbers of non-white applicants. At the student level, there appears to be a desire between some student groups to achieve diversity among gender lines, racial lines and ethnic lines. But the majority of student organizations continue to be composed if mainly one ethnicity."

Similarly, Berman said, "I feel Michigan has problems with diversity. Different groups segregate themselves. It's a natural thing of society. The Greek system is certainly segregated in the sense you have Jewish fraternities and sororities, black fraternities and sororities, white fraternities and sororities and Asian fraternities and sororities."

But Kraft and Masserman said they believe students of various races are joining together, rather than self-segregating themselves. Kraft and Masserman commented on how intramural sports bring different races together for one common cause - to win. Masserman said, "The whole thing of interacting with race and ethnicity is good. The interaction is good. You are judged by skill not color."

Following Gifford's incident with racial grafitti on her residence hall door, she said Director of Housing William Zeller did not personally contact her.

"He chose to disregard the seriousness of the situation and (my roommate's and my) emotional state as well," she said.

Zeller could not be reached for comment yesterday.

"The thing that upset me more than the racial attack is the fact that there was no response ... from the Director of Housing William Zeller almost a month later. This led me to believe that the University did not care about the well-being of its black students," Gifford said.

But Alan Levy, director of Housing Public Affairs, refused to comment on Gifford's claims, explaining: "this is a serious topic that deserves an appropriate response. I am not going to respond off the cuff."

Gifford doesn't feel animosity toward her perpetrators. "I see a bigger picture and my focus academically is to prepare myself to deal with larger social issues. Little incidents of racism don't bother me as much as institutional racism because that's what people don't see and that is what is oppressive."

11-03-99