Despite the best efforts of both student and administrators to institutionalize diversity education at Georgetown, instances of anonymously posted racial bigotry have made it extraordinarily clear that current efforts have been ineffective in ensuring that all members of the student body understand and appreciate the value of diversity.
The most current manifestation of this racial division can be seen on the Facebook page Georgetown Confessions, which has been noted by The Hoya’s editorial board in “Faceless Contempt” (A2, April 5, 2013) for its role in propagating racially insensitive remarks. This page, which has reached more than 2,500 posts and 1,500 followers, has become a platform for racially charged vitriol. While shocking, this has not been the first time anonymity has been used to voice racial hostility.
In the fall semester, the advocacy group Georgetown Leaders for Unity and Equity held a demonstration in Red Square that included a sign reading, “Georgetown is institutionally racist.” While no students were vocal in their opposition during the demonstration, the anonymous comments on a later article about the protest by the Georgetown blog Vox Populi contained many racial slurs and resulted in a significant number of comments being removed by the editors of the blog for their offensive nature. Georgetown Confessions seems to be another manifestation of an ingrained and ongoing problem at this university.
The approach taken at Georgetown has been to shun or ignore racism while unintentionally allowing it to continue privately and then vented through anonymous means. The methodology has been, essentially, to inform students about the sort of comments or actions that could be seen as offensive and to encourage students not to make such comments or act in such a manner.
While well intentioned, this sort of diversity education will always fail because it does not foster open and honest dialogue, which is the only way to fundamentally change the hearts and minds of individuals.
When they first arrive at Georgetown, many students hold stereotypes of different groups, perhaps despite their best efforts to keep open minds. Upon entering the heterogeneous environment on the Hilltop, these students have the opportunity to break these stereotypes, but the opportunity is lost when no forum for open dialogue exists.
New Student Orientation’s Pluralism in Action is an incredible program, but keep in mind that it occurs in the first week of the semester. Students are less likely to voice a potentially controversial point of view in such a new environment for fear of being labelled a racist by their new classmates. A white student opposed to the idea of affirmative action quickly sees his views would be met with hostility and keeps his thoughts to himself. If he cannot be open about his views, he doesn’t allow for the possibility of having his mind changed and becoming informed through honest dialogue. Instead, such a student would join a racially homogenous organization on campus where he would never again be in a position to have his views challenged.
While many student organizations have “open” conversations about diversity, it is difficult to truly foster open dialogue. Productive dialogue can exist only in an environment where everyone involved feels comfortable expressing his or her point of view, and no individual fears being ostracized for disagreeing with the general consensus. If students find themselves in an environment in which they can speak their minds, it gives them the opportunity to change their minds. When controversial views are met with hostility, students will keep their views to themselves, ignore future diversity education efforts and internalize their opinions until the day they choose to express them angrily through anonymous comments. In attempting to suppress unpopular views, the university unintentionally feeds them. If we changed the dialogue at this university and were tolerant of intolerance, however, every negative stereotype would be just one honest conversation away from disappearing for good
BENJAMIN WEISS is a sophomore in the College.
