Although Fairfield University aligns itself with Jesuit morals, preaching acceptance and social justice, there still lurks a sense of discrimination within the campus community. And for some, it has become intolerable.
The group Act Against held its first official forum last Thursday March 1, in the lower level of the BCC. Act Against was started by students living in McCormick in response to the vandalism incident, which occurred in Claver earlier this semester, where a vandal carved racial slurs and an anti-Semitic symbol onto a plaque residing in the dorm.
The group drew inspiration for their name from a carving in their own dorm, bearing the inscription “Act Against.” For them the name exemplifies their stance towards discrimination on campus.
The topics covered at the forum focused on students’ sense of social injustice on campus: the failure to integrate the student population, lack of respect for female students by their male counterparts, and stereotypes that male and female students feel they need to live up to in order to fit in on campus.
Senior Ashley De La Cruz talked about some of the instances of discrimination she had come across in her time on campus. She said: “I’ve passed by the townhouses and heard drunk white people saying, ‘I’m tired of these f**ing n***ers on campus.’” On another occasion she overheard two students discussing how they believed minority students had an easier time in the admissions process.
Sophomore Xavier Francis, one of the group’s core members, believed that not enough of the student community was taking these issues seriously. When presented with a student’s analogy, comparing the vandalism with trash on the floor and other dorm damages, he replied: “I can pick up garbage from the floor and put it in the bin, but you can’t just pick up racism from the floor and put it in the bin. It’s rooted in the history of this country.”
In a similar way, Public Safety officer Charles Goodwin spoke about his experience as an undergraduate at Howard University. He advocated for increased personal responsibility from students to create change in the campus’s atmosphere.
Goodwin said: “You set the culture and the tone at Fairfield University… I don’t remember a time in my four and a half years at Howard University where it was acceptable for a student to get drunk, punch holes in the wall, and call a young lady anything other than a young lady. We checked each other, and we didn’t need public safety to do it for us.”
Students were also critical of the main story of last week’s issue of The Mirror, calling the article biased and opinionated.
The article, which focused on the recent night club shooting in Bridgeport featured a photo of a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt while brandishing a pistol. Students voiced their distaste of the picture, stating that it furthered negative stereotypes of the Bridgeport community.
“This article is nothing but a perpetuation of the negative stereotype that held against our neighboring city,” said Frances to The Mirror.
While the formation of the new student group is helpful and will hopefully bring aid to the ailing campus, some students took a more realistic approach to what the group may accomplish.
“It is a step in the right direction, but the fact is: intolerance will never end. Until we are all the same complexion , racial bias will exist. People always want to feel superior,” said De La Cruz.
Students of the University have become cognizant of the diverse social groups our campus holds and how they relate with one another.
“I thought it was a good way to hear stories of discrimination on campus. They usually remain hidden and I think it’s a step towards fighting intolerance,” offered Mary Mendez ’12.
Act Against will look to have another student forum by the semester’s end, but to those interested in continuing student activism there will be a meeting run by the Gender, Sex, and Sexuality Commons today from 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m. in room 123 of McCormick Hall.
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