|
|
November 17, 2005Forum opened to all after discrimination complaintsFrom the Northeastern University's Student Newspaper:
After originally advertising for "women of color only," the Women's Studies and Graduate Consortium's first "Breaking Bread: Women of Color Dialogue" was forced to open the doors of the Raytheon Amphitheater to all races last Saturday.
I've always been of the opinion that excluding people from anything because of their race/religion/whatever is a bad idea because you are isolating yourself. Besides that, the "women of color only" is worded a bit ambiguously. Are asians considered colored? Hispanics? What about Indians?
The event was meant to include only women of color during its first session from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., with the second session from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. open to the public. However, after protest from the Student Government Association (SGA), orders came from Provost Ahmed Abdelal that the event must remain open to all who wished to attend.
Dr. Robin Chandler, director of women's studies and one of the organizers of the event, said she was disappointed she received orders to open the event to all, even though only one white woman actually attended the first session.
I like to play a game where we take the same quote and just switch colors around a bit. Let's see how it looks.
Chandler said the point of the first session was to convene as a group of women of color to address issues before bringing those issues to the second session, which was meant for all to attend. "I think it's a shame that one or two white students based on white privilege, a lack of awareness of racial issues and a lack of generosity of spirit complained to the office of the provost and were able, because they were white, to gain admission to the morning session that I was forced to open up," Chandler said. "Only one white female student showed up and I welcomed her anyway, in addition to telling the audience to conduct themselves with integrity even though the presence of a white woman was unwelcome."
"Only one black female student showed up and I welcomed her anyway, in addition to telling the audience to conduct themselves with integrity even though the presence of a black woman was unwelcome."
It's amazing sometimes that we think that humanity has come so far when really we are just jogging in place. |
|
