EDITORIAL: Conversation on campus race relations must be transformative
Central Michigan University students, faculty, community members and staff asked university president George Ross (middle) questions about diversity and inclusion at noon on Friday, Dec. 4 in Plachta Auditorium. The panel included junior Justin Toliver (from left to right), junior Rebecca Detroyer, Ross, Heather Syrette of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indian Tribe and CMU NAACP chapter president junior Angela Hill.
President George Ross said when a Central Michigan University student tells him about his or her experience with discrimination, he understands.
He’s experienced racism in Mount Pleasant, too.
During a forum on diversity and inclusion at CMU on Friday, Ross briefly spoke about personal experiences with racism during his time in Mount Pleasant.
Ross said he has been watched and in some cases even followed out of local businesses and restaurants in town. Our president experiences first-hand racism that is alive and well in rural Mid-Michigan.
But most of CMU’s campus is not talking about diversity or recognizing that the issue exists and is prevalent here.
That needs to change.
Attending college is an experience students use to transform and enhance their lives. It should also be a journey where they educate themselves about cultures different than theirs and expand their worldview.
Just because we have several minority administrators at CMU does not make us any more tolerant or immune to the poison of racism produced in many rural communities such as Central Michigan.
Central Michigan Life’s live broadcast of Ross’ forum, some commenters made their hatred for Ross and his ideals of inclusion clear.
“Blah blah blah,” they mocked Ross on a periscope feed.
These are the hearts and minds that must be transformed in order to improve race relations on this campus.
Central Michigan Life has written extensively about ongoing tensions between racial groups at CMU as it relates to everyday campus life and the trickle down effect national race issues have here.
We commend Ross for starting this conversation before things get out of hand.
By making himself available to the student body, taking questions and connecting with minority groups in a way few administrators here can, Ross has called to mind one of the most prevalent social issues facing our generation.
The first step to solving a problem is recognizing that one exists. As Ross said, this is just the beginning of the conversation, but progress must follow.
We need to strive to avoid an echo chamber on this campus – one that unintentionally segregates our community and renders our conversations about inclusiveness unproductive. Talking about these issues with the same people at the table over and over again accomplishes little.
Discussions about an issue so complicated as the one regarding race on a predominantly white campus must be transformative.
Ross understands the value of letting the members of this campus community air their grievances. His forum on Friday was evidence of that.
Ross and the other decision makers on this campus owe it to every student to pursue realistic goals that improve race relations and create a space for a conversation about inclusiveness to take place.
But we will never do so by continuing to operate in a vacuum.
Ross and the university should make transforming race relations and attitudes on this campus a high priority. Friday’s forum was an important first step.
But we, as a community, cannot afford to take the same step twice.
