Disease of Intolerance at Trinity Must be Treated
Issue date: 11/14/06 Section: Letters
- Page 1 of 1
To The Editor:
Recent events on this campus - most notably defacing of chalkings on the Long Walk, racial slurs written on white boards, and cries of racism over Halloween costumes - have served wonderfully to open up a dialogue on the cultural climate at Trinity. But, as we all know, the diagnosis of the problem is only the first step. Treatment and recovery must follow to ensure a healthy community of students, faculty and staff. However easy it is to pinpoint what each individual believes is the problem, the remedy proves infinitely more difficult to discover and then agree upon. Thus, we appear to be at an impasse; parties are polarized at opposite ends, and there is a lack of clear middle ground. If we want our campus climate to change, it is up to each of us to enact the steps to make that happen, to be open-minded enough to understand the other side and work to meet somewhere in between.
Regardless of how vehemently (or not) you feel about recent events here at Trinity, apathy will not make the problem disappear. On the contrary, apathy will make it fester and conceivably grow into a bigger monster. Talking about what happened is progress - don't misunderstand me - but it can only get us so far. If it takes mandatory workshops for all students, then perhaps we should be thinking along those lines. If we live in a school community where it is permissible for a student to stand up in class and announce that she would like to get rid of all Arab students, action needs to be taken quickly and effectively. For every student that protested last week, there were probably two others who were too scared to make a stand. This fear should not exist at a liberal arts institution like ours and it is completely unacceptable.
However, it is equally important to keep things in perspective. It is insulting to the student body to think that any of us would knowingly dress in black-face or in a mockery of Native Americans.
The pictures that circulated were taken out of context and I only hope that the faculty has enough sense to think about the harmless intent of these costumes before vilifying students unnecessarily.
Either way, these recent events serve as a call to arms for all of us here at Trinity. This is our home, effectively, for four years. Let's make it a place of which we can be proud.
JULIET IZON
Class of 2007
Recent events on this campus - most notably defacing of chalkings on the Long Walk, racial slurs written on white boards, and cries of racism over Halloween costumes - have served wonderfully to open up a dialogue on the cultural climate at Trinity. But, as we all know, the diagnosis of the problem is only the first step. Treatment and recovery must follow to ensure a healthy community of students, faculty and staff. However easy it is to pinpoint what each individual believes is the problem, the remedy proves infinitely more difficult to discover and then agree upon. Thus, we appear to be at an impasse; parties are polarized at opposite ends, and there is a lack of clear middle ground. If we want our campus climate to change, it is up to each of us to enact the steps to make that happen, to be open-minded enough to understand the other side and work to meet somewhere in between.
Regardless of how vehemently (or not) you feel about recent events here at Trinity, apathy will not make the problem disappear. On the contrary, apathy will make it fester and conceivably grow into a bigger monster. Talking about what happened is progress - don't misunderstand me - but it can only get us so far. If it takes mandatory workshops for all students, then perhaps we should be thinking along those lines. If we live in a school community where it is permissible for a student to stand up in class and announce that she would like to get rid of all Arab students, action needs to be taken quickly and effectively. For every student that protested last week, there were probably two others who were too scared to make a stand. This fear should not exist at a liberal arts institution like ours and it is completely unacceptable.
However, it is equally important to keep things in perspective. It is insulting to the student body to think that any of us would knowingly dress in black-face or in a mockery of Native Americans.
The pictures that circulated were taken out of context and I only hope that the faculty has enough sense to think about the harmless intent of these costumes before vilifying students unnecessarily.
Either way, these recent events serve as a call to arms for all of us here at Trinity. This is our home, effectively, for four years. Let's make it a place of which we can be proud.
JULIET IZON
Class of 2007
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