You might say Brian Kesten (COL ’10) is on a mission from God. He certainly would.
One night in early October 2007, Kesten was lying in bed praying before he fell asleep. His nightly ritual of reading scripture and reflecting in prayer usually calms him down at the end of the day and allows him to “begin a dialogue” and “give God an opportunity to give [him] dreams.” This night he was particularly distressed over the recent Jena 6 incident, which, though it occurred hundreds of miles away in Louisiana, had sparked controversy across Georgetown’s campus.
Kesten, who is usually reserved but lights up when discussing issues he cares deeply about, said that sometimes he has inspired dreams, but his idea from that October night only left him restless and anxious, and would affect him in a way he could not yet have envisioned.
“I wanted to think of action,” Kesten, whose dedication to SCU is only surpassed by his faith, explained, “to change not only the campus climate, but to deter instances of discrimination, climates of bigotry on campus, climates of intolerance, and create opportunities for students to learn from each other from an equal, mutual standpoint.”
In the 15 months following that fateful bedtime prayer session, Kesten created and chaired the GUSA Student Commission for Unity. With the help of his vice chair, Brian Cook (COL ’09), Kesten enlisted around 50 peers to survey over 1,500 Georgetown students to determine the salience of diversity at Georgetown and the levels of awareness on campus about issues from discrimination, bias reporting, interreligious dialogues and Jesuit ideals.
Kesten has spent 15 to 20 hours every week on SCU since October of 2007. He does not envision the Commission’s research as an end unto itself but rather as an attempt to spur action that will change what he sees as a campus atmosphere too frequently stifled by complacency, intolerance, and discrimination.
“I couldn’t really sleep comfortably until I started working on [the SCU],” Kesten said.
The report that Kesten, Cook, and the other eight SCU Executive Board members presented on Tuesday is over 300 pages long, and contains a guide to SCU’s research methods, graphs to illustrate survey data, critical analyses of each demographic breakdown, and recommendations to the University.
A clear trend which emerges from SCU’s research is minority groups’ heightened awareness of discrimination and bias. Generally, majority groups were more “unsure” that issues such as racism existed on campus, and they were much more comfortable with their identity within Georgetown’s community: 44.6 percent of LGBTQ students “sometimes” feel uncomfortable at Georgetown because of their identity, compared to 14.9 percent of heterosexual students.
Regardless of demographic breakdown, a majority of students consistently “strongly agreed” to the statement, “Interacting with people unlike myself does enrich my college experience.” At the same time, however, 76.2 percent of all students surveyed “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that “self-segregation is a problem at Georgetown.” Apparent contradictions such as this speak to the breadth of the report and the complexity of the issues that it dissects.
27.3 percent of students are aware of the Bias Reporting System, but only 4 percent have ever reported anything to the BRS. More dishearteningly, the disparity between those who have witnessed cases of bias and those who have reported it is even greater. 78.5 percent of students have at least “rarely” witnessed “instances of discrimination by Georgetown students.”
A more concerted effort to make students aware of the BRS is one of the report’s many recommendations aimed at achieving the less tangible goal of heightening the student body’s consciousness of diversity-related issues. Kesten, Cook, and the rest of SCU have laid out four major initiatives with multiple components targeting academic life, institutional resources, recruiting initiatives and the freshman experience, and Student Activities Commission groups and Residence Life programming.
“Racism is a reality very much that is hidden. Like diversity, it is sort of a taboo word,” Cook, who speaks in a soft but measured tone, said. Cook added that he frequently experiences instances of discrimination, whether in the form of racial epithets or being turned away from a party.
“I, as a black student, like every other student, have so many other things to worry about [besides], am I reporting this bias? Am I trying to shun victimization?” Cook said. “Do I want to be viewed as the kid who wants to constantly point out [these instances of discrimination]?”
A few incidents in the fall of 2007 raised a number of questions about diversity and tolerance within the Georgetown community. The Jena 6 incident of October 2006, a string of racially charged harassment and assaults in Jena, Louisiana, which culminated in the charging of six black high school students with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, left an indelible mark on some students. September 20, 2007, marked the national day of action for Jena 6, and Jheanelle Brown (SFS ’10) wrote a September 27, 2007, opinion piece for the Voice in which she decried the apparent disinterest on campus with the issue of racism.
“I was saddened to see the large protest in response to the University alcohol policy and the comparatively smaller vigil for the Jena 6,” Brown wrote.
Two days earlier, D. Pierce Nixon published a column in the Hoya that incited outrage across campus over the author’s seemingly blithe and insensitive musings on race: “I think that the concept of race is a stupid, dehumanizing method of classifying people into artificial groups for the purpose of discrimination,” Nixon wrote. “The reason I didn’t want to write about the Jena Six was because, like many people, I’m AFRAID to talk about it.”
Nixon’s fear is exactly what the SCU report aims to address. Rather than ignoring racial squeamishness, Kesten and Cook want to bring it to the surface for open, honest discussions about touchy subjects like race and sexual orientation.
In September 2007, a hate crime against a gay student incited a campus-wide debate that involved numerous open forums about LGBTQ issues. With surprising alacrity, University President John DeGioia agreed at the end of October 2007- less than two months after the hate crime occurred- to establish an LGBTQ resource center on campus. The center has been fully functional since the beginning of the 2008 academic year.
Cook believes the development of the LGBTQ center resulted from the initial shock of the hate crime and the momentum created by ensuing discussion opportunities in numerous open forums. Moments like this “force us to come out of the complacency of ordinary student life: ‘I gotta get my work done, I gotta go do this with this group and that group,’ ” Cook said. “Serious social change typically comes about through some kind of spark.”
While traumatic events like last year’s hate crime might galvanize a wide response, a small group of students like Alex Denny (MSB ’09) and Erica Haviland (SFS ’10) engage with these issues on a daily basis as residents of the Justice and Diversity in Action living learning community in McCarthy Hall.
The JDA floor houses 36 students from a wide range of backgrounds, and the tightly knit group does not shy away from heated discussions about sensitive topics.
“The discussion might start with something trivial … but almost inevitably it moves towards a serious discussion about race or different people’s backgrounds, poverty … the heavy stuff,” Haviland said. Denny, Haviland’s Resident Assistant, who lived on the floor last year as well, chimed in.
“There is a certain amount of tension that underlies these things, and I think that’s very healthy,” Denny said. “It isn’t just everyone with the same points of view.”
Kesten is a white male who describes himself as “privileged,” characteristics that, according to Vice President for Institutional Equity and Diversity Rosemary Kilkenny, are not typically found in a leader of movements like SCU.
“I think it’s wonderful that you have a Brian Kesten who is leading that effort … often times people expect that because you’re black that you’re expected to take a certain position on a particular issue,” Kilkenny said. “I would like to think that by his example other white men and women would see his leadership and follow his leadership and join that effort. Because ultimately you want to capture the hearts and minds of people who don’t necessarily think in this way.”
Kilkenny has been involved with SCU practically since its inception and has been working on a similar project of her own for the past two years. When University President John DeGioia appointed Kilkenny as VP for Institutional Equity and Diversity, she began developing a strategic campus plan that would serve as a “blueprint” for the University to promote diversity in the coming years.
“[President DeGioia] made it very clear he wanted Georgetown to be a model for diversity,” Kilkenny said. “Not just in terms of numbers but in terms of … the moral landscape of our campus and our community.”
Kilkenny, along with other administrators interviewed for this story, echoed the serious commitment DeGioia has made to fostering a welcoming campus environment for all students.
“Ultimately the administration has to be involved, because … the students are only here for four years, but many of the administrators are going to be here longer,” Kilkenny said. “So it’s important for us to make sure that some of this work continues going forward.”
The student-initiated aspect has proved to be invaluable, demonstrating to University administrators that students are engaged with tough issues and are willing to expound upon their findings. Kathleen Maas Weigert, Executive Director of the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service, spoke of the imperative that action be student-led.
“I don’t think change ever really comes top-down. I think the upper groups can help set principles, parameters, support, and it can make resources available, but I do believe change happens from the grassroots level,” Weigert said.
This past Tuesday about 100 students, faculty members, and administrators filed into Gaston Hall to watch the presentation of SCU’s research.
Cook stood up to address the audience. After professing to like Georgetown basketball and to love Georgetown’s ideals, Cook touched on a more sobering topic: “I’ve experienced people and attitudes here that have made me feel that I don’t belong.” Playfully Cook imitated a stoner-surfer “dude” turning him away from a party, with an excuse like, “uhhh, the party is actually ending. Like, in a few minutes,” or, more bluntly: “no niggers at this party.”
“These stories are painful to tell, and I’m so used to telling them that I find them cliche. And I catch myself in taking pride in turning the other cheek … and pretending that my experience here is nothing but fun.
Georgetown came alive for me when I began to act,” Cook said. “This is a movement that will give voice to the unheard, because we’ve documented not all, but many problems that go unreported and hidden from campus discourse.”
In October 2008, Black Enterprise Magazine named Georgetown the fifth best school, and the best non-Historically Black College or University, for students of color to attend.
For administrators like Kilkenny, Georgetown’s fifth placement is both an affirmation and challenge to the school’s mission to foster a diverse and comfortable environment for minority students.
Unlike Kilkenny, however, Kesten does not revel in Georgetown’s fifth place ranking. For someone whose friends are frequently discriminated against and who spent the last 15 months of his life exploring just how oblivious a majority can be, Kesten is confused.
“I would challenge you to find a black student who agreed with that,” Kesten said. “I have not had a conversation about that [ranking] without laughing … or just being in general disbelief.”
