It is rather ironic that I am now writing for the opposite argument that I intended to make several weeks ago. When I read Meredith Loken’s article, I was surprised by the stories she told, but doubted the relevancy of her examples (e.g. townspeople do not represent students; the situation regarding the lesbian president was many years ago). I did not believe these stories supported her theme, which was that the campus needs more tolerance towards diversity. However, the article did cause me to look out for more prejudicial themes in conversation. With this in mind, here are just a few of the things that I heard:
A student was called the N-word at the Bornhutter parking lot.
Another student was called the N-word by a cheerleader in the UG.
Twice in Gault Manor (once in the basement, once in front of the elevator), a Chinese girl was asked by people saying, “Do you speak English at all?” One of the times, the person went on saying, “You Chinese should get out of this country!”
In the UG, a white man yelled at two internationals (subsequently), “Get the f*** out of my way!” When security came in to ease the situation, the international student was forced to leave the UG even though he did not engage in any conflicting behaviors in response to this.
It goes without saying that in all of the cases, the victims felt very upset and disappointed after the events. I acknowledge that the college has put in enormous amount of effort to promote diversity. I have enjoyed the different activities the college has organized to welcome international students and promote intercultural understandings. I have enjoyed the company of many people who are willing to learn about other cultures and treat international students as equals.
However, after being off-campus for a year, I came back only to realize that the moral baseline of civility and multicultural tolerance has dropped to such a point that we can no longer ask for learning about and being open with other cultures, but simply to respect and treat minorities as equals. It is disappointing to learn that people who are supposed to be accepting the “higher education” are still acting in such disrespectful manners. I am reminded of a line that I had once heard in a movie — “thousands years have passed, and humans are yet learn to love each other.”
Yujing Zhao is a contributor for the Voice and can be reached for comment at YZhao12@wooster.edu.