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‘But I am a white straight male.’
That is the prepared statement I have kept in my back pocket ever since I arrived at Fairfield my freshman year. I pulled it out whenever the conversation of diversity came up.
It wasn’t until last week that I realized just how important it is for white males to become a large part of this effort.
The University community proved this very well last week when it organized the annual Martin Luther King Convocation. As anticipated, the convocation was different this year in light of a new president.
Barack Obama’s message of change has clearly landed on the shores of the Long Island Sound, as Fairfield is expressing its own versions of change.
But the reason for change has more to do with a cultural maturity then anything else. Society has now become tired of hatred.
There is a newfound sense of community based not only the forced integration of students placed into diversity groups but also because of the appreciation of the true identities of these students. I am friends with students of different races and ethnic groups because they are my friends and their own individuals, not because they fill a supposed diversity quota.
Diversity is about far more than race and gender. It is about world views and religion. It is about political beliefs and even past experiences. Diversity is the difference between you and me.
If I went to an all white school, would that be diverse?
My answer would have to be yes.
Diversity is defined by the differences between two people any two people. When we don’t find that difference we fail to truly commit to diversity.
I was placed into a group of three other people at a conference recently and the facilitator said that the group was not as diverse as it should be.
Perhaps the most under talked type of diversity at Fairfield University is socio-economic diversity. This should be in the front of all conversation for one large reason: It is in trouble of disappearing.
As the financial climate worsens the schools begins a long fight to see it’s financial diversity upheld. From Fnancial Aid all the way to Student Affairs and Counseling Services all hands are on deck in the fight to kept those who are less privileged here at Fairfield.
When I realized that financial aid was involved, I thought about where else these efforts had reached.’ That is when the fact that this initiative had reached the ends of campus came into my mind.
The best way to see the school’s true belief in diversity is in the academic courses and events offered over the course of the year. World and U.S. Diversity courses highlight the actually development of learning, but it is in the discussion classes that student and professor really begin to see just how people coming from different environment can interact.
And Fairfield’s efforts have paid off.
Many students don’t realize how much the school has changed because they are only here for four years. If you go back just to the turn of the millennium, you would hear stories about people saying words like ‘homo’ and ‘fag’ directly at GLBT students. You would see Muslims being accused of being involved in the 9/11 attacks.
‘Nobody did anything. Nobody seemed to care,’ said Jonas Stankovich ’10, president of the Gay-Straight Alliance.
The statement shows that the state of diversity’ has’ been improved greatly in recent days. But just because it is sustainable that doesn’t mean the fight is over.
White males for the most part have felt excluded from the common belief that diversity is exclusive to those who fall into minority categories.
This question dawned on me during a diversity workshop that I went through:
‘Could I get involved in diversity?’
That was when I realized that I was already part of diversity. Through my willingness to understand and my interaction with those who disagree with me, as well as embrace the things that make me different – or who I am as an individual – are factors that have all categorized me as diverse.
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