Racism repeats itself

By Editorial

When in history did we somehow conclude that, even in the nastiest of situations, there exists a silver lining? Sure, a car accident makes us think a little more about safety. A bad test grade might push us to study harder next time.

Surely, Alpha Phi's "hip-hop/rap" theme party is one of those events where greater dialogue about diversity can offset the cultural insensitivities and poor judgment expressed by students who portrayed gangsters and thugs from the ghetto.

Both Jose Arreola, director of the Multicultural Center, and Jeanne Rosenberger, vice provost for Student Life, called the theme party a learning experience -- one that will allow students to talk freely about taboo racial stereotypes and reevaluate preconceived notions.

Except that's exactly what we heard last time.

Yes, Santa Clara has an unfortunate history with theme parties. When students threw an off-campus "south of the border" theme party in 2007, this year's seniors were freshmen. The university community reeled as images and accounts of the party were picked up by national media.

In a year when men and women's soccer both won conference titles, ESPN instead highlighted the theme party because student-athletes from at least three Santa Clara sports programs were pictured in racially derogatory costumes.

Some students were outraged over the party. Others shrugged it off.

Alpha Phi never intended for the party to be offensive. Then again, no one usually means to be discriminatory.

But let's not allow this party to blind us into thinking that Alpha Phi is solely responsible for holding back progress on diversity issues. Parties with themes like "hip-hop/rap," "south of the border" and "fresh off the boat" happen all the time within sight of Santa Clara's campus.

In 2007, the silver lining was that the university could face the issues of diversity and culture head-on.

The theme party found its way into class lectures and was discussed over meals. It prompted the establishment of a Council on Inclusive Excellence that seeks to promote Santa Clara's commitment to cultural understanding and community awareness. And when the administration designed a new core curriculum that year, a diversity-oriented course became a requirement for all students to take.

The true issue is that, after three years of so-called "dialogue," a body of hard-working, intelligent and engaged students still doesn't know where to draw the line when it comes to racial stereotypes.

So we need a new game plan.

The university shouldn't become complacent in the work it's already done to make diversity a bigger issue in the classroom and in student life. In a little over a week, Santa Clara will receive feedback from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges after recently wrapping up capacity review in, among other things, diversity on campus. Recent events should be weighed with the arrival of WASC's diversity recommendations.

Students need to practice a little more empathy. Before diving into a theme party wearing baggy clothes, big chains and "thug lyfe" scrawled across your knuckles, think about the individuals who wear those items to blend in rather than to stand out.

In reality, there is no silver lining to a party playing on racial stereotypes.

But we hope the great dialogue and learning opportunities everyone keeps talking about actually translates into the compassion and respect Santa Clara students are fully capable of grasping. That is, if they try.

We said three years ago that Santa Clara has a racism problem. It still does.

We'll wait for the most recent theme party to sink into the community. We'll wait for students to stand up and reject ideas that pull Santa Clara back, and not push it forward.

Yes, we can wait. But the longer we do, the harder progress will become.