A few years back, several incidents pushed issues of race and diversity at Georgetown to the forefront of the campus’s mind. In 2007, the attack of a gay student on campus prompted the formation of the LGBTQ center at Georgetown. In the same year, some criticized the priorities of Georgetown students when a protest on the alcohol policy received more attention than a vigil for the Jena Six that was held on the same day. In 2008 and 2009, students protested the Hoya and the Georgetown Heckler for publishing satirical articles that they found insensitive toward minorities and women who had faced assault.
It was students who led the subsequent drive for institutional diversity initiatives on campus. Brian Kesten (COL ’10) started the Student Commission for Unity in 2007, which eventually developed into several working groups chaired by faculty and students aimed at increasing diversity at Georgetown in its academics, recruitment, and student life programs.
Not all students were on board with diversity initiatives. There were many students who decried the idea of a diversity class requirement, and felt these initiatives dwarfed the importance of “diversity of thought.” What is significant about this period of time is that students who thought Georgetown still had room for improvement on diversity issues had a platform on which to voice their opinions, through town halls and the ample real estate dedicated by student newspapers. During these years, discussion about diversity issues was vibrant, and I think these discussions made campus a better place.
As a senior at Georgetown, I find myself explaining what SCU stands for and what the protests of 2007 through 2009 were about to underclassmen, and I worry that the institutional memory of these events will not last. The SCU website’s domain name has expired, town halls addressing diversity initiatives are a thing of the past, and coverage of the progress of the diversity initiatives by the student press has dwindled down to a once-a-semester update.
In 2011, many students don’t think there are diversity problems at Georgetown. Kara Panzer (SFS ’14), who transferred to Georgetown from the American University in Cairo, said that Georgetown’s student population is as diverse as the Egyptian university, as well as the boarding school she attended for high school.
“I think people [at Georgetown] do tend to associate more with people of similar backgrounds but I don’t think that people I’ve met here are limited in any way,” Panzer said. “I haven’t experienced any racism at Georgetown or witnessed any racism.”
There doesn’t seem to be any breaking news about diversity at Georgetown, which is both good and bad. For the most part, students are getting along. However, the lack of news obscures the room for improvement that still, and always, exists.
The absence of acts of racism does not mean that all students at Georgetown understand the specifics of growing up as a minority in the United States. It is unfortunate that the discussion of minority issues is sometimes relegated to classifying a statement as politically correct. This often happens during class discussions, and heavy-handedly simplifies the perspective of a minority community to whether or not a certain statement offends their identity. Being politically correct doesn’t correct mischaracterizations of the community, nor does it understand the culture of the community, and it does not recognize that the community is made up of individuals.
A nuanced understanding of the perspective of people from a different background means getting acquainted with and empathizing with a different story than your own. It requires a certain amount of curiosity.
This open-mindedness is important for Georgetown students entering the workplace who will, more likely than not, end up working closely with people of different backgrounds. This curiosity is incredibly important for students who want to work in politics, who want to write policy, who want to be writers, and who want to be leaders of their field.
Many students have engaged in meaningful relationships with people of backgrounds different from their own. Joohee Kim (SFS ’13) feels that there aren’t any barriers for students of different races to form friendships at Georgetown. However, Kim also said that these friendships mean stepping outside of a certain comfort zone, and that it is easier to form friendships with people of the same race. “You don’t have to explain [cultures and customs to them] because life has already done it,” she said.
Four years ago, the push for institutional diversity initiatives was a student led-effort. In 2011, Hoyas should follow this tradition and continue pushing themselves and their classmates to expand their cultural horizons.
