2008 Woodie Awards
Mellon story reinforces white privilege, ignores history
By: Dan Balogh and Erik Forman
Issue date: 11/2/07 Section: Opinion
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On October 19, The Mac Weekly ran its first full-length article on race this semester. It wasn't about the "Politically Incorrect" party that polarized campus by insulting people of color, queers, women, Jews, and other oppressed groups last spring, or about the resignation of the Dean of Multicultural Life the spring before that because of a lack of institutional commitment to challenging oppression. It didn't mention the fact that Macalester admitted a larger percentage of students of color in the early 1970s than it does now. It also didn't touch on the repeated attempts of students of color to organize against institutional racism we have witnessed in the last four years.
Instead, the front page of the newspaper was devoted to investigating one white student's complaint of 'reverse racism' at not being allowed into a class that provides "safe space" for students of color and allies. While this claim merits critical discussion on its own account, we also need to think about the culture that inflated one white student's sense of entitlement to front-page news, while remaining silent on the persistence of systemic oppression of non-white peoples. Most Macalester students recognize and condemn racism when we see it in New Orleans or Jena; but are reluctant to acknowledge racism right in front of our noses. The front-page story of October 19 perpetuates this miserable tradition. The decision to feature an article about 'reverse racism' is a de facto assertion that racism is either absent or relatively unimportant at Mac.
This attack has threatened one of the few safe spaces for students of color on campus in addition to further fraying race relations. As white students, we feel it is now incumbent on us all to support Students for Protecting and Conserving Equality (SPACE) in their response to the article, then pick up the pieces and educate ourselves so that this doesn't happen again.
Many white students are probably confused about allegations of racism on campus. After all, Macalester College has four stated core values: multiculturalism, internationalism, service to society, and academic excellence. The reality is that these "values" are not supported equally. We do not have the expertise or the space in this article to explain exactly how multiculturalism and space for non-white students at Macalester has been marginalized, so we will refer readers instead to the Multicultural Advisory Board Report issued in Spring 2005. It is available online at http://www.macalester.edu/provost/diversity/index.html. Use your email username and password to access it. It is illuminating that the Dean of Multicultural Life who contributed to this report resigned "as an act of resistance to the continued marginalization of multiculturalism as evidenced through institutional structures and minimal resources" in Spring 2006.
Instead, the front page of the newspaper was devoted to investigating one white student's complaint of 'reverse racism' at not being allowed into a class that provides "safe space" for students of color and allies. While this claim merits critical discussion on its own account, we also need to think about the culture that inflated one white student's sense of entitlement to front-page news, while remaining silent on the persistence of systemic oppression of non-white peoples. Most Macalester students recognize and condemn racism when we see it in New Orleans or Jena; but are reluctant to acknowledge racism right in front of our noses. The front-page story of October 19 perpetuates this miserable tradition. The decision to feature an article about 'reverse racism' is a de facto assertion that racism is either absent or relatively unimportant at Mac.
This attack has threatened one of the few safe spaces for students of color on campus in addition to further fraying race relations. As white students, we feel it is now incumbent on us all to support Students for Protecting and Conserving Equality (SPACE) in their response to the article, then pick up the pieces and educate ourselves so that this doesn't happen again.
Many white students are probably confused about allegations of racism on campus. After all, Macalester College has four stated core values: multiculturalism, internationalism, service to society, and academic excellence. The reality is that these "values" are not supported equally. We do not have the expertise or the space in this article to explain exactly how multiculturalism and space for non-white students at Macalester has been marginalized, so we will refer readers instead to the Multicultural Advisory Board Report issued in Spring 2005. It is available online at http://www.macalester.edu/provost/diversity/index.html. Use your email username and password to access it. It is illuminating that the Dean of Multicultural Life who contributed to this report resigned "as an act of resistance to the continued marginalization of multiculturalism as evidenced through institutional structures and minimal resources" in Spring 2006.
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