Editorial Conversations: Diversity
By: Editorial Staff
The question posed to our editorial staff was: In our ever-changing society, people have defined “equity” and “community” in many different ways. How do you define these terms and what are their implications of equity and community for our 21st century society?
Read their responses below.
Benjamin Mumma, Class of 2010
The definition of equity has been butchered, egregiously, in recent decades to suggest that somehow we can make everyone the same. The liberals butchering ‘equity’ see a wonderful world where everyone is the same. Everyone is equally intelligent, or unintelligent. It does not matter how intelligent because as long as everyone is equally able or inept, no one is jealous and everyone is happy. Everyone has the same amount of money, so there is no reason to be greedy or jealous. When any kind of contest is held, everyone ties – thus no one is marginalized, no one scarred, no one loses. Reports are that there are unicorns and fairies prancing around in this world, and when someone sees a rainbow, they always reach the end and find a pot of hallucinogenic drugs – sustaining ‘Equityland’ a while longer.
Liberals still have not been able to realize Equityland in the material world. To many of us, it is obvious why: all humans are naturally greedy, jealous, envious and selfish to some extent, so society still faces many conflicts of interests. Liberals willfully ignore this revelation so that their dreams of utopia stay intact.
Because human nature cannot be the cause of society’s woes, they need to find something to blame. To do so, they perceive inequities and social injustices all around them, and make it their life mission to right these wrongs. Welcome to “ADM 101: Administering at Lehigh.”
President Gast’s language in her Martin Luther King week address demonstrates Lehigh’s commitment to this philosophy. To quote, ”Those events [of a year ago] still haunt us, and compel us to redouble our efforts to change our own community. The Council for Equity and Community is leading our efforts but they cannot do it alone. Comprising dedicated staff, faculty, and students, the council is charged with preparing for, and sustaining, the next generation of diversity and equity initiatives at Lehigh.”
The truth is, get ready for this, Lehigh is equitable. We all start with a GPA of 0.00. We all have access to the same labs, classes, equipment, news sources, dining halls, and non-academic organizations. Everyone has the same opportunities to be happy, to be successful, and to enjoy his or her time here. By promoting the idea that Lehigh is inequitable, President Gast and the administration are working against their second stated goal: building Lehigh into a better community.
What is ‘community’? A community is a group of people who share common experiences and hold a mutual respect for all other members of that community. Lehigh currently houses hundreds of small communities that exist within the University. Each major, living unit, group of friends and student organization serves as a community within Lehigh.
The divisions within the University community arise from three main problems:
1. Conflicts of interests between communities.
2. Lack of commonality between communities.
3. Administrative policies that target specific communities.
The administration mainly has control over the third problem, and to a lesser extent the first two. Generally, a entity should not have obvious favorites and scapegoats within its various sub-communities. However, some of Lehigh’s policies and rhetoric on many issues such as Greek life and diversity clearly do just that. Examples include painting all Greeks with one brush, as they did in cancelling Greek Week, the creation of the CEC, and subsequent attempts to give in to every ‘demand’ made by a group of concerned students. Indeed, requiring Lehigh applicants to answer an idiotic question like this is a direct result of that.
By favoring some communities and attacking others, Lehigh creates animosity between communities. It drives some communities away from other communities. This leads to a lack of commonality between those groups, hence making Lehigh less of a community as a whole.
Looking at the “21st century society” at Lehigh, the definitions of equity and community should be altered. The goal cannot be to eliminate vices from Lehigh, but find a way to minimize their impact. The sooner Lehigh makes this shift, the better a community Lehigh will be in the 21st century and beyond.
Trevor Drummond, Class of 2010
Equity (noun): The equal dispersion of consequence among parties, without subjection to judgment solely on an aesthetic or medical quality.
Community (noun): A place where people live and work together.
The implications of these terms are subject to the conditions by which they are approached. For example, it is unfair to say that one is violating the concept of equity for criticizing a gay pride parade, as the parade and behaviors taking place within it are actions, and actions are always subject to judgment, regardless of one’s opinion of homosexuality as a genetic (nature) or a lifestyle choice (nurture). It is equally unfair to state that equity is being violated when criticizing the behavior of an individual on the basis of a cultural tradition.
I personally experienced a first-hand understanding of these definitions during my formative years of schooling in the Strawberry Mansion section of North Philadelphia. Here, I had approached life as a platform of equals, figuring that my interactive behavior would be a basis for complaint, not my appearance. However, while walking to the subway in my school uniform (a blue blazer, tie and khakis), I was attacked by youths with a knife, which tried to steal my belongings. When I reported this to the authorities, I was told that my outfit “made me a target,” and that I was “asking to be mugged.”
Looking back on the situation, it is clear that the experience I had was a case of cultural mismatch – what was comfortable for me was not comfortable for others. However, when I came to Lehigh, I was frustrated to learn that passing judgment on an individual who dresses like they plan on robbing a 7-11 is a “bias-related incident.” This confused me – we profile in interviews for jobs, airports in Israel have avoided terrorist attacks by profiling their passengers, and this question is profiling Lehigh students – so what’s wrong with what I have to say?
Michael Caffrey, Class of 2012
Equity doesn’t mean simply being tolerant of others; rather, it means attempting to understand and see the world from another’s eyes. Community takes this concept of mutual equity to another level, as everyone shares the same experiences; the human experience.
The common culture all people experience is what brings us together. Despite coming from states and countries around the globe, people who attend Lehigh share a sense of common purpose; to learn and understand, to face challenges and beat them.
The difference between tolerance and understanding is vast; staying away from “offensive” words may be good enough, but actually crossing the boundary and embracing someone of a different ethnicity or race the same as one would embrace a friend is the true key to establishing equity.
Despite our personal differences, everyone should reach a mutual understanding of each other; respect should replace hatred on both our campus and the world. Hateful actions distract us from the real reason we are here; education.
Crafting an environment in which the greater Lehigh community understands its members may take time. However, the effort is well worth it, as a diverse academic and social community creates additional opportunities to learn outside of the classroom, truly preparing Lehigh graduates to be leaders in the global world.
