Diversity talk raises questions
By Kelly Hradsky
News Writer
Through funding from the Center for Women's Intercultural Leadership, the Saint Mary's community gathered on campus to discuss diversity Saturday.
Frances Kendall, a leading diversity consultant and facilitator, led a series of workshops that encouraged participants to learn about themselves and to challenge authority.
Students as well as faculty attended the frank seminars — "Creating a Welcoming and Inclusive Community," "Waking up to Privilege" and "Leadership Matters: Being Agents of Change."
"Changing individuals doesn't change institutions; we want to change policy and procedures," Kendall said.
Starting the first seminar, Kendall asked members of the audience to consider questions such as whether there was a difference between the meaning of the Fighting Irish or the Washington Redskins mascots. She asked the audience to contemplate if either or both of these mascots are offensive to people and if so, why.
"I don't think that either are offensive, they are both just mascots," sophomore Jodie Emerick said.
Kendall sparked a debate among the resident advisers when she brought up the topic of personal space. They debated whether resident advisers should be allowed to have controversial items, such as a Confederate flag, displayed in their rooms.
The response from participants was heated as many burst into applause or quietly booed as differing opinions were expressed.
Members of the audience argued that these items could create an unhealthy atmosphere, adding that resident advisers are representatives of the college and their rooms are similar to an office space.
Others argued that dorm rooms are their own personal space where they can express themselves.
"Since the resident advisers don't pay for their rooms, I think that their rooms are the school's and therefore they should not be able to hang things like the Confederate flag" Emerick said.
Kendall started the second seminar by reading to the audience a series of statements, asking them to stand up after each statement that applied to them. The statements referred to ancestry, race and gender. A sample question was: "Did your ancestors benefit from the G.I. bill?"
"When I saw how often I was standing up compared to other people, I realized how much I had," sophomore Sarah Dunn said.
Kendall's purpose in asking the questions was to help audience members realize the number of privileges they had been afforded because of their race and acknowledge that race does matter.
"For those of us who are white, one of our privileges is that we see ourselves as individuals, `just people,' part of the human race," Kendall said. "We play our race card everyday."
In the final seminar, Kendall left students with a list of ways that change could be achieved in the policy and procedure of institutions.
"The last speech got me thinking, I want change and this speech made me feel more confident that it was possible," junior Yvonne Benson said.
All News Stories for Monday, September 2, 2002
