Students face silent prejudice
By Jenny Jones
Features
Editor
Her instructor asked if she was named after a basketball
manufacturer.
As Stephany Spaulding, a graduate student, sat
in her class, her instructor went around the room telling students where
their last names came from.
When he got to Spaulding, he not only asked her
if she was named after the basketball, but proceeded to ask her where
her name originated from.
But because there aren't many records about where
black names originated, Spaulding said she wasn't able to respond.
"I just think he wasn't aware of just how culture
sensitive that could be," she said.
It's not just students who experience discrimination
on campus, however. In fact, more than 12 percent of Purdue's faculty
said they have experienced discrimination, according to a Purdue survey.
Considering this, one may wonder how much the words
and actions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are being carried out in the
Purdue community.
Dorothy Simpson-Taylor, director of the diversity
resource office, said, "I think the Purdue community by and large seems
to be open (to diversity)."
Hassan Uddin, a senior in the Schools of Engineering,
agreed, "I don't think there's any open discrimination in the Mid-West."
Although Uddin doesn't think there's "open" discrimination
at Purdue, he does feel that some people on campus look at him weird
and send him negative "vibes" because he's from a different country.
"It's a consistent pattern; I've seen it not only
in one class, but many," Uddin said. "The roles are the roles set by
(the majority). If I don't really do as the 'norm' is, then I need to
stay in my culture group."
But staying in one's own group is exactly what
Simpson-Taylor said students shouldn't do.
"All of us have to take leadership responsibility,"
Simpson-Taylor said. "The more people see that we're working together,
the less likely people are to practice hatred."
But Uddin, who often finds that after he talks
to people of other races in his classes, they usually don't acknowledge
him outside of the academic setting, said working together is not always
easily accomplished.
"Things like this don't change fast," he said.
Although change won't happen immediately, Spaulding
said that one way change could more quickly take place is by student
integration.
"I think a lot of students just don't step out
of their comfort zone," she said.
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