A lot of press has been given recently to promoting diversity on this campus. Rensselaer claims to not discriminate based on "race, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, religion, creed, national origin, marital status, Vietnam Era veteran status, disabled veteran status, or disability," according to policy statements. Looking below the surface, we have much further to go as a community. And sometimes those very metrics that show our success are the means by which we are most limited.
A diverse campus is one where people representing all the groups mentioned in RPI’s policy statements are treated equally, and where the opportunity to exercise and celebrate unique heritages, lifestyles, and histories exist. This school has an astonishingly different attitude towards African-Americans than it does towards gay students—one is celebrated while the other barely tolerated. And that’s not to say being black, or a member of any other "socially accepted" minority, around here is what it should be either. Racism and bigotry are still entirely too rampant.
More subtle differences, such as marital status, disability, or economic distinctions, represent barriers of assumption that few of us even notice, but that keep our community from having a truly tolerant mentality.
The biggest barrier to diversity is the comfortable mentality that says that we are being tolerant. If we are not exposed to something that makes us uncomfortable, something that calls our assumptions into question, then we are not diverse.
RPI, ask yourself: Do you celebrate all racial differences, but see a foreign name on your course syllabus and assume that your TA is international, will not be able to speak English, and will be responsible for your poor grades? Do you hear an associate refer to his boyfriend and feel that he’s committing the social sin of too much information? Do you see a white, male, American student and assume that he has no cultural identity and that is helping to suppress your way of life? All of these are barriers to diversity.
Professors, when a student comes to you with a need to be excused for a religious or cultural celebration, do you automatically fall into the "bare compliance" role and start talking like an automaton afraid to utter the wrong word lest you bring down the wrath of DOSO? This, too, is a barrier.
Increasing the diversity-on-paper of the accepted student body is an important start around here. But it’s only a start. We have an opportunity here to take our campus, our community, and bring it beyond the bare minimum of policy statements and federal compliance. And though an administrative effort to encourage diversity in all areas, not just the socially accepted ones, would be a huge help, this remains a chance that each and every one of us can make on our own.
