In light of an academic year which brought the topic of race to the front lines of West Chester University, an open dialogue about the issues of racial inequality and race awareness has captured the attention of the campus community.
The presentation “The Understanding Privilege Project: White Privilege,” which took place on Friday, Oct. 14 in Sykes Ballroom C, was the second installment of the yearlong WCU Diversity Lecture Series; “Understanding Privilege Project.”
The series is co-sponsored by the Campus Climate Intervention Team, the Division of Student Affairs, LGBTQA Services, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Office of Residence Life, the Office of Social Equity, the University Forum and the Women’s Center, and intends to examine the issues of race, gender, ability, and sexuality.
The seminar, co-facilitated by Dr. Tim Brown, Chair of the Department of Communication Studies, and Dr. Adale Sholock, Director of the Women’s Center, focused on defining, recognizing and analyzing the concept of white privilege and its implications in social structures: perpetuating inequality for some while creating advantages for others.
To accomplish these objectives, audience members participated in a diversity exercise and both small and large group discussion.
“As a white person, I was taught that racism disadvantaged people of color, but I was never taught to see how my whiteness put me at an advantage,” Sholock said. “Privilege is ignorant at its core, in some ways. I do know that educating myself and engaging in honest dialogue with others is the first step toward dismantling racism and white privilege.”
For the exercise, the 67 attendees were asked to silently respond to a series of statements by standing if the scenario applied to them and remaining seated if it did not. Some of the statements included were: “I can turn on the television or open the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely and positively represented” and “I can be almost sure that if I ask to talk to the ‘person in charge,’ I will be facing a person of my race.”
Small group discussions followed in which students, faculty and staff were asked to sit with other people of the same race and share their feelings about the exercise, what they learned and what they could do with the information. After the groups reconvened, the students chose to emphasize issues of communication between blacks and whites.
Zuri Sone, a graduate student, referenced instances where she felt she had to speak differently to her white and black peers, saying “I speak two languages.”
The sentiment was echoed by others who agreed that their racial identities affected how they perceived and were perceived by people of a different race.
The lecture is relevant in regard to the presence of racial tension on West Chester’s campus.
Last November, students from all ethnic and sexual backgrounds organized the “Day of Silence” after little had been communicated about efforts to combat the controversial results of the Campus Climate Survey: 604 respondents said that they had “personally experienced exclusionary, intimidating, offensive and/or hostile conduct” based primarily on gender, positional status and race.
The protest was directed at the Student Government Association, which was accused of being exclusive toward minority students. Less than a month later, there was a well-publicized incident involving flyers advertising a proposed “White Student Union.”
Faculty, students and administrators were reminded that talking about privilege and oppression is difficult, that interacting in spite of differences takes time and practice and that educating oneself and one’s peers is necessary.
“Talking about an issue such as white privilege is not easy and it can be uncomfortable,” Brown said. “However, I was impressed with the thoughtful and heartfelt discussion that took place today. If we are ever to get to that ‘more perfect union,’ we have to develop ways to talk about privilege that doesn’t condemn but educates and liberates individuals. This discussion was the beginning of that process.”
The next segment in the lecture series, titled “The Understanding Privilege Project: Cisgender Privilege,” is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. It will take place in Sykes Student Union, Ballroom B.
Amber Marcoon is a second-year student majoring in English. She can be reached at AM754499@wcupa.edu.