Fighting ignorance through diversity

By Editorial

Education regarding racism and discrimination for our generation perpetuates a great myth: that an act must be intentional or malicious in order to be perceived as offensive.

But this is false. And as the controversy that has surrounded our campus for the past week or so shows, it is also dangerous.

A group of students, including numerous student-athletes, decided to have a "South of the Border" party, where attendees came dressed in various outfits that caricatured people of Latino heritage.

One female Santa Clara student even came dressed as a janitor and proudly posed for pictures sporting liberally applied black lipstick, a sponge attached to her belt, cleaning gloves covering her fingers and a mop in her hands.

To make matters worse, students later put pictures from the night up on Facebook, making them available for all to see.

The photos and outfits students wore to the party were more than just in bad taste or "crossing the line." They were hurtful, offensive and wrong.

And it's not just the Latino community that should be offended. Anyone who knows what it's like to be discriminated against, whether it be based on ethnicity, gender or sexual identity, should be outraged that something like this could happen here.

And all of us with parents or family members who do custodial work should see that there is nothing funny about carrying around a mop at a party.

But to focus too much on condemning these students for the mistakes they made would be to miss the far greater and more important point: Whether or not we would like to recognize or admit it, we have a problem with discrimination at Santa Clara.

These theme parties are nothing new, and many Santa Clara students have attended them, dressed up or not. The people depicted in the pictures of this specific party were just the ones that got caught. Whether it be a "South of the Border," "Ghetto" or "Fresh off the Boat" party, feeding into ethnic stereotypes at parties has become a pastime of predominately white, upper-class students at colleges nationwide.

What is it about our backgrounds and education that has made us think that racism is a form of entertainment?

It may be the way our generation has been raised on satire. From "The Simpsons" to "Family Guy" and "Chapelle's Show," manipulating ethnic stereotypes for humor is nothing new to us.

But the true issue at hand is that many white students are ignorant of race issues that minorities face on a daily basis, in some cases because of a lack of contact with people from minority ethnic groups or disadvantaged economic backgrounds.

And in that respect, Santa Clara is failing in its mission.

Would the women at the party have chosen to dress the way that they did if they had done an Arrupe placement in a community where immigrants work long hours at custodial jobs just to pay the bills? Maybe not.

Or if her friend across the hall in her dorm had been Mexican? Or the professor for her favorite class?

Herein lies the way that the university can use these unfortunate events as a catalyst for change. Immersion programs and Arrupe placements are an admirable component of the Santa Clara education, and more students should be encouraged to take part in them.

Furthermore, the administration must make a concerted effort to attract and retain more diversity in our faculty and student body. College should be a place where students are exposed to diversity in people, ideas and cultures. And unless this diversity is likewise reflected in our campus community, ignorance will continue to haunt us.