Universities confront bias with programs

National Catholic Reporter, March 29, 1996 by Gustav Spohn

It was a particularly troublesome moment at Fairfield University, one that folks on campus and surrounding towns along the Connecticut shore are unlikely to forget soon.

In the fall of 1994, obscene racist graffiti that included Nazi swastikas began turning up on buildings at the Jesuit school, sending chills through the university community, especially among students who were threatened: African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanics, females and homosexuals.,

"It was very graphic and downright nasty," recalled Larri Mazon, director of the university's multicultural center.

Instead of keeping things quiet, students and administrators decided to confront the issue head-on. Several candlelight vigils and rallies were held to celebrate campus unity, one of which drew more than 800 students, faculty and administrators.

"Sweeping it under the rug only pents up more frustration," said Heather Marin, a Hispanic junior and one of about 20 students who stayed up until 2 o'clock one morning planning a vigil. "Bringing things to light will show you that it's not welcome, we don't like it, this is how we feel, hear us speak as students, as the Fairfield community, as AHANA (African-American, Hispanic, Asian, Native American) students, as administrators, everyone."

Publicizing such incidents is now part of university policy, according to Mazon: "Anything like that we immediately make public so that everybody gets, tired of dealing with this kind of thing. . . . The thinking is that everybody should share in this embarrassment."

Racist graffiti is nothing new, but the incident at Fairfield is one example of the kinds of situations that increasingly confront colleges--religious and secular alike--as they become more ethnically diverse. "Some campuses at least have become more open and deliberate in their recruiting process so as to get a more multiethnic face on campus," said Howard Ehrlich, who has tracked "ethnoviolence" on college campuses for 10 years as director of the Center, for the Applied Study of Ethno-violence at Towson State University, Towson, Md.

As campuses become more diverse, "the likelihood of group conflict increases," he said. "If you have more cars, you'll have more auto theft. If you have more potential targets of hostility, they'll be used." According to Ehrlich, surveys by the institute show that 25 to 80 percent of all minority college student's are victimized in some way--psychologically or physically--during the course of a single academic year.

Multiculturalism--the movement to acknowledge and be sensitive to the contributions. of nondominant groups--represents a sort of second-stage process for colleges that have taken steps to increase minority enrollments, an outgrowth of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and subsequent affirmative action regulations that encouraged institutions to boost percentages of minority students, faculty and staff.

Across the country, multiculturalism is making its presence felt at Catholic institutions like Fairfield, which sponsored a major conference Feb. 1 and 2 titled "The Meaning of Multiculturalism and Diversity for Catholic Higher Education."

At Fairfield, programs have been established over the past two years in black studies, women's studies and Judaic studies. All students, beginning last fall, are required to complete at least one course in diversity. A group composed of students, faculty members and administrators called TEAM, Together Effectively Achieving Multiculturalism,presents educational programs on diversity and mediates when there are incidents of racial discord.

In September the university opened a centrally located multicultural center with a community room, lounge, meeting space and offices. It has proved a popular meeting place for AHANA student organizations.

Other Catholic schools have taken different steps with similar goals in mind. For example, the University of San Diego, a Catholic school that was jolted by a cross-burning incident about six years ago, has used a $1 million grant from the James Irvine Foundation to create a more open environment. Components include staff retreats and small grants to faculty who restructure courses to reflect cultural diversity.

At St. Louis University--like Fairfield, a Jesuit school--1,300 of 6,000 employees have participated in an all-day cultural enrichment program. If faculty want to serve on search committees, they must have attended the session.

At the University of Detroit Mercy, where a sizable number of Muslims have enrolled, faculty and staff members have been appointed "Islamic leaders" to ease the students' adjustment and minister to special needs. The university hopes to go even further. by inviting Muslims to participate in an ongoing, two-year internship in campus ministry. A number of African-American Protestant students have already joined the program.

The most recent national figures for enrollment of minority students at Catholic schools date to 1990, according to the Washington-based Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities. At that time, the percentages of minority students at Catholic schools, 22.2 percent, exceeded those at private four-year institutions and four-year state schools, at 19.9 percent and 18.8 percent, respectively.