More than 200 students, faculty and alumni attended a rally Wednesday on Asbury Circle to address issues of racism that have occurred on Emory’s campus.
The “Rally Against Racism” was co-hosted by the student group Change @ Emory and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Change @ Emory most recently organized a protest at the opening of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference exhibit in the Robert W. Woodruff Library against University President James W. Wagner’s comments regarding the Three-Fifths Compromise in Emory Magazine.
During the two-and-a-half-hour rally, select students and faculty spoke behind a podium and addressed a variety of issues of race on campus, ranging from “The Dooley Show” controversy to Wagner’s article.
“The events that have taken place on campus this year, to name a few, President Wagner’s article and ‘The Dooley Show’ and so on, aren’t isolated issues,” College sophomore Cindy Park said as she addressed the crowd. “They are indications of the bigger problem at Emory.”
Change @ Emory had been planning to host a rally on the topic of racism since December, but it wasn’t until the controversy surrounding Wagner’s article that they decided that now was the right moment, according to Davion Colbert, a College junior and one of the event organizers.
“Wagner made this comment recently, which really put us over to a place where we really could have pull with the media, with students, faculty and staff,” Colbert said. “Even though that wasn’t the only issue, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
Many administrators attended the rally, including College Dean Robin Forman and Dean of Campus Life Ajay Nair. Vice President and Deputy to the President Gary Hauk attended the beginning of the event. Wagner was not present, as he was out of the state on business, according to Nair.
“I wanted to show my support to the student body,” Nair said. “[The speeches] were really moving. It’s inspiring to all of us to want to make change here at Emory and make our community better.”
Students and faculty said they believe the event was successful given the amount of media coverage it garnered as well as the diverse support from the community it gained.
Reporters from Fox 5, Channel 2 Action News, NBC 11 and The Atlanta Journal Constitution covered the event.
“The rally had gotten a lot of publicity for the University’s actions,” Herschel Smith (’12C) said. “Hopefully, action will come of all of this. There were a lot of great points for future action for the administration to take and for the Emory community in general to take. The rally was very well-attended with an extremely diverse group of students, which is really great to see.”
While many speeches reflected on both “The Dooley Show” controversy and Wagner’s column, additional issues that have not been as dominant in campus discussion were raised during the rally.
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Discussion On Greek Life
A major point of discussion during the rally was conduct disparities and issues of race within Greek life at Emory.
Christian Conway, a College senior, presented a speech that outlined issues of concern to minorities about Greek life at Emory.
Conway explained that the removal of both the Alpha Phi Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta played a major role in “systematic racism at Emory.”
“Many may not know that Alpha Phi Alpha had the only technical historical black house on an all-white Greek Row,” Conway said.
“It threw many events that contributed to the health of a positive social scene for minorities on campus.”
Conway explained that she believes that there is a double standard between “white fraternities and sororities” and “minority fraternities.”
“We are asking for white fraternities and sororities to not be able to do what they please due to the color of their skin, while African-American groups are targeted, criminalized, judged and boxed into a category that is hard to get out of,” Conway said.
Many representatives from the Interfraternity Council (IFC) attended the event, including IFC President and College junior Jason Stern.
“As Emory students, we are interested in what is happening on campus,” Stern wrote in an email to the Wheel. “We are aware of many of the concerns other students have about racial inclusion in the Greek community, and we went to the rally to learn more.”
According to Stern, IFC plans on discussing issues of race at their next general body meeting on Tuesday.
“[IFC] recognizes that a diverse community brings challenges and opportunities to talk about how race, ethnicity and diversity plays into the fraternity experience,” Stern wrote.
“Safe Spaces” for Minorities
Another point of discussion addressed the issue of minorities being left without a “safe space,” since the closure of the Black Student Alliance (BSA) House.
Speakers at the rally explained how minorities have no place to celebrate their culture and experiences. They identified this lack of a “safe space” as a fundamental hurdle moving forward.
Conway said the removal of the BSA house “left a black hole in the community.” She added that the house was eliminated “with little to no explanation and coldness to the people affected.”
Nair said in an interview with the Wheel that the house was closed because it is in very bad condition.
“[The house] would need significant renovation to be reopened so [the Office of Campus Life] is exploring several other options around this black student union idea around the DUC and other spaces that could potentially provide students with a ‘safe space,'” Nair said.
According to Colbert, black students are looking for a place similar to what Jewish students currently have at the Hillel house.
“We want a space that promotes black heritage and black culture, but it is open to all – similar to the Hillel that promotes Jewish culture and Jewish heritage,” Colbert said. “But it’s not like, ‘oh only Jews are allowed.'”
Department Changes and Effects on Minorities
Discussion regarding the December 2012 department cuts also resurfaced during the rally when Navyug Gill, a member of the Student Re-visioning Committee (SRC) and a doctoral candidate in the History Department, presented a speech on the “racialization of Emory Cuts.”
“[The cut programs] contain some of the highest numbers of students of color and from abroad,” Gill said. “Twenty-five percent of students in the [Institute of Liberal Arts] are minorities, while 40 percent of students in the [Department of Educational Studies] are African American, the highest population of any department in the University. In terms of faculty, whereas only 15 percent of the total University faculty are of color, the cut departments contain anywhere from 20 to 48 percent faculty of color and the decision to make these cuts were made by a group of eight white people.”
During the course of the rally, members of the SRC handed out flyers, outlining the impact of the department changes on faculty members of color.
The flier noted that one-fourth of faculty of color in the College will lose their jobs as a result of the department changes.
Race at Emory: Moving Forward
Additional points of discussion were made on the prospect of creating new General Education Requirements on race education, the faculty perspective on Wagner’s comments, the lack of institutional support for black males and structural issues and culture on campus.
Since the rally has brought up many different issues, some students said they feel the event could create more of a campus dialogue.
“[The event] was a good start, but it is now up to the administration to make a change,” College senior Alecia Boone said. “We can talk about it all we want to, but unless somebody is going to be the person up there to make the change, then nothing is going to happen.”
M. DeLa Sweeney, the assistant director of the Office of Multicultural Programs and Services, attended the event, too, and commented that moving forward, Emory has a lot of work to do.
“I don’t think there is a single solid direct solution,” Sweeney said. “A step in one direction could be by one perceived group, as a step in a different direction.”
Sweeney said he believes that the movement cannot stop at just discussion. He said action needs to be taken.
“I don’t want [action] to be hastily made, but I don’t want them to be late either,” Sweeney said.
Stephanie Llanes, vice president of College Council and member of Change @ Emory, concluded the rally and discussed a plan in which she will provide recommendations to University administrators to facilitate movement forward.
“We are tired of talking and hearing that ‘Emory is different because we talk about racial issues.’ Well, guess what: talking is not good enough,” Llanes said. “Emory ought to be different because we act. We want change.”
In an email to the Wheel, Nair and Provost Claire Sterk wrote, “Over the next several months, you will have a number of opportunities to contribute, guide, lead and provide invaluable input. During this critical time, we must collaborate, for true change comes only from an engaged community.”
– By Dustin Slade
The Emory Wheel was founded in 1919 and is currently the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel publishes weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions.
The Wheel is financially and editorially independent from the University. All of its content is generated by the Wheel’s more than 100 student staff members and contributing writers, and its printing costs are covered by profits from self-generated advertising sales.
Emory should have never tried to distinguish itself by encouraging discussion about racial issues. Look at what good it did. The school tried to please everyone, but ended up pleasing no one. Tragic story.
Could you elaborate on this? Can you connect the dots between Emory’s past efforts, and what constituencies make up that “everyone”? How did they figure in to those previous efforts, and where do you see them standing now? It seems to me that dialogue is always good, but that there are differences between good and bad faith efforts, and also about priorities vis-a-vis substantive change or just talking things out for PR purposes.
…seriously?
WASSUP BRO
Umm, okay. Have fun with the alias, I guess. For the record, I’m not on not on the Wagner side of the debate, but if you want to make an alias about me just because I called your little war-chant (that you spammed EVERY topic with) stupid, be my guest.
Bro you and I both would never try to rhyme anything with “genocide”!
Emory is hemorrhaging money because of its overly generous financial aid commitments. The University has more students who qualify for Pell grants than most other top schools. If the school can’t attract full-tuition paying students, it’s screwed. Why do they need substantive change? People need to solve their own problems, not rely on handouts.
So to your mind, who is it that’s “rely[ing] on handouts” here? And how does that figure in to the issues of racism experienced by students on campus?
The Rally Against Racism event was much needed and I hope it triggers some real change on Emory’s campus. I’ve heard some very insensitive and unintelligent comments during my time at Emory and the more students work together to accept each other, the better the campus will be. I hope in the future students will be able to enjoy their 4 years at Emory without being treated differently for their race, religion, or what-have-you. Emory has already made steps to having a diverse student population but diversity means nothing if acceptance is absent.
Emory is a racist institution. It practices affirmative action and discriminates against whites and asians in the admissions process. Affirmative action is a reward for doing poorly on standardized tests. That is the only real discrimination going on at Emory. These protestors are all full of it.
So you should totally walk us through how you see Emory’s specific affirmative action policies makes this happen. I’m sure you have numbers, and know how the admissions process works here, right bro? Or is this just sort of a principled conviction you’re working with?
Universities hide the data because it’s embarrassing how much of leg up being a minority gets you. Look at the University of Michigan supreme court case. Michigan actually published a points system on how they admitted students. They were actually being honest and transparent. Minorities got a huge boost and they were still underrepresented. It’s the same at almost every major University. If someone from an underrepresented minority background had good enough grades to get into Emory without affirmative action, they would easily be admitted to Harvard. The standards are so low that it would be embarrassing for Emory to be honest about its admissions policies.
Maybe I’m crazy, but I honestly believe that institutions of higher learning benefit from diversity.
The School of Early Childhood Education where I did my Masters had a 100 SAT point and a .6 GPA point spread between women and male admits to its program. If you were a woman looking for admittance, you had to blow male applicants out of the water. The result? 15% of admits were men – meaning there will be men working as qualified pre-school and elementary school teachers. This shows boys, and girls, that not only women work with children, men can and do. Its Affirmative Action (though they don’t call it that) and its important, WAY more important that how unfair it is the Suzie Q has to work harder to get into the school she wants than does Johnnie D. Sorry for Suzie, but the needs of the children she wants to serve, the schools who will eventually employ her and the country in which she lives should be more important that the temper tantrum she’s throwing about how its not “fair.” Men remain under-represented, but if we ever even that gender playing field, they will stop getting “special treatment.” In the meantime, it remains in everyone’s best interests that men continue to receive “special treatment” in admissions – or we should just throw in the towel on the entire feminist revolution and admit we don’t WANT men taking care of children.
I refuse to believe that African American, Native American and Hispanic students bring nothing to the university besides their test performance. Their presence in prestigious universities shows the entire society – and children of all racial and ethnic backgrounds – that the most educated among us come in ALL colors. To my understanding, the university system was not created to be “fair” to the individual. If that was the case, there are many impoverished people all over the world that are WAY smarter than your average Emory undergrad and we should all just go home, to be, you know, “fair.” The university system was created to better the larger society that it serves. I don’t understand how people can spend this amount of time and energy moaning about how “unfair” it is that white applicants can outscore Hispanic applicants by 50 or so points (which I don’t argue isn’t sizeable) and be denied admission. Because we need more Hispanic students in order to reflect the larger society, that’s why. And when Hispanic people quit being under-represented, they’ll stop getting “special treatment.” Unless you want to throw in the towel on the entire Civil Rights Movement and admit that you don’t want Hispanic people doing anything but mowing your lawn…
I choose the Hispanic example because I’m Hispanic, but it holds for everyone.
The sooner people at Emory stop engaging in this “distress of the privileged” the sooner we’ll all stop looking like morons, by the way.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. We’re not talking 50 points here. More like 250 plus points. Diversity of race adds nothing to the educational experience. It brings down standards and requires a lot of finacial aid to achieve. Liberals just tell minorities that they add diversity to make them feel better. Sorry, you’re given benefits because elites pity you. There was an article in the NYTimes about a Hispanic student who went to Emory and dropped out with a lot of debt. She was quoted in the article saying that she wasn’t prepared for Emory. I admit that I come from a “privileged” background. My parents makes over a $1 million a year from investments. But I know that my father came from modest means amd worked harder than 99.9% of the population to get to that point. My parents are very generous and I see first hand that most people are ungrateful. I know that some people may be bitter and jealous of those that succeed by their own merits. But at the end of the day, you’re never going to get what you want with that attitude. The vast majority of the population doesn’t care about your made up problems. Acting bitter and accusing everyone of racism isn’t going to make me want to help you. I don’t believe in helping people who are ungrateful. It seems that everyone claims to be the smartest and hardest worker who just gets the short end of the stick. But most people don’t follow through on what they say they are going to do and just make excuses. Honestly, I don’t think that we should have goals to increase the representation of certain minorities until they are no long “under-represented”. It’s not going to happen, there is no way to achieve this goal in a democratic fashion. There aren’t enough resources to solve all of these problems. But I’m optimistic that the Supreme Court will get rid of affirmative action. Also pension costs will put a lot of pressure on local governments, so they’ll have to cut back on a lot of the affirmative action jobs they give out. And the electorate isn’t going to support spending more money on the inner-cities, when their taxes are going up and the benefits they receive from the government are cut. Things are only going to get worse for these permenent “victims”. Most people say that they support helping poor children and minorities, but when you show them the price tag, they give you a different answer. The vast majority of people don’t care about strangers more than they care about their own families. Just being honest. I don’t give anyone credit for having good ideas on how to spend other people’s money. That’s not generosity, it’s selfishness.
Ignoring everything else in your post, I want to point to this: “I admit that I come from a “privileged” background. My parents makes over a $1 million a year from investments. But I know that my father came from modest means amd worked harder than 99.9% of the population to get to that point.” And you think those kind of opportunities are available now, to pretty much anyone? Because they aren’t anymore – the middle class is dying. And if you are a woman or a minority, the slim chances of breaking across economic barriers is greater still.
I’m sorry you don’t feel diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and identities enriches a person. Many of us at Emory feels it does. It certainly helps give us perspective on the individual struggles each of us faces – and learning about those struggles is much better way of relating to your fellow humans than telling them what value they have and what they don’t, according to your restricted worldview.
Wait … so you don’t have numbers, because universities “hide the data” but you’re confident enough that it’s “more like 250 points.” Sounds to me like you have certain convictions first and foremost, and then the facts follow from that. There’s a word for that kind of attitude towards people and facts – bigotry.
I have the sources. Look at this New York Times article.
“Black and Latino college applicants, as well as athletes and so-called legacies, receive large preferences – the equivalent of 150 to 300 SAT points. Low-income students, controlling for race, receive either no preference or a modest one, depending on which study you believe.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/sunday-review/rethinking-affirmative-action.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://wizbangblog.com/2013/02/27/slavery-flap-shows-emory-university-professors-are-morons/
OMG A TEA-PARTY SELF-PUBLISHING SITE IS WEIGHING IN ON THIS ISSUE. DROP THAT COPY OF THE NEW YORK TIMES OR THE WASHINGTON POST OR SALON OR THE GUARDIAN OR AL JAZEERA PEOPLE SOME SERIOUS JOURNALISTS ARE ABOUT TO DROP SOME KNOWLEDGE ON Y’ALL. AWWW SH!!T ITS GONNA GET REAL!
much respect for this quote: “We want a space that promotes black heritage and black culture, but it is open to all – similar to the Hillel that promotes Jewish culture and Jewish heritage,” Colbert said. “But it’s not like, ‘oh only Jews are allowed.'”
Are you kidding me? This is just another example of the “systemic racism” that these “highly offended” students are talking about and THEY’RE PART OF THE PROBLEM TOO.
Hillel is RELIGIOUS organization, much like the university also has a Wesley Center, Catholic Center, Baptist Center, Office of Religious Life, etc. Black students do not “deserve” a space any more than Asian students deserve a space (who by the way, outnumber blacks 4 to 1 on campus), or whites or Native Americans or anyone else. To think that each racial group deserves its own space would revert us back to less pleasant times in American history. These students thinking black students deserve a “space that promotes black heritage and black culture” is INHERENTLY racist (to everyone who is not black/does not have their own “space on campus”) and I sincerely hope the university does not cave to this nonsensical, hypocritical pressure from a group of students find themselves “highly offended” (because they lived through the 3/5 compromise…right?) because of Wagner’s honest mistake.
I agree. But not only that. The Holocaust was a million times worse than slavery and happened more recently. Plus, black people benefit from affirmative action, which is a complete scam. Emory was the worst affirmative action University in the country back in the 1990’s under President Chase and look where it got us.
yep, comparing different forms of subjugation and disenfranchisement is a great idea – and totally productive! If your ancestors had it the worst, according to an objective analysis, then you get to tell people from other backgrounds what they “deserve”. Brilliant.
These aren’t “ancestors” that Jews are talking about. We’re not talking about our ancestors who were slaves in Egypt. This is our grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ generation. And this is not just one person’s opinion. Martin Luther King himself said that the Jews suffered the worst discrimination of all races. There was a New York Times article today about recent research into the Holocaust. Read it and tell me how your problems with an article in alumni magazine compare to what these people had to go through. Yet despite all that we’ve been through, the Jews have survived and flourished. Other people should learn from that. Yes discrimination is bad, but at the end of the day good things come to people who work their asses off and never give up. The Jews knew they were never going to get a handout and they accepted that.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/sunday-review/the-holocaust-just-got-more-shocking.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=0
“Martin Luther King himself said that the Jews suffered the worst discrimination of all races.” That’s a hair different than “The Holocaust was a million times worse than slavery and happened more recently.” But hey, you seem to enjoy comparing things – even though I was suggesting that comparing relative misery was probably a unproductive way to relate to other human beings, you went ahead and doubled down. PS: Not everything is about you – like, for example, this editorial.
“The Jews knew they were never going to get a handout and they accepted that.”
Who do you see – as a category of people – asking for a ‘handout’ in this situation? I think you should spell it out.
When you say “Jewish Response” Do you mean “a” Jewish response? Or “the”? Is the way you feel all Jewish people should respond, are other Jewish responses possible – do you speak on behalf of all everybody? I take it you’re the same person who’s advocating a boycott of Emory by alumni below. How’s that phone call gonna go? “Hey, Black Students just got a building at Emory! Let’s cancel are donations because…” Because? Because that’s the proper Jewish response that you envision?
No,no,no. The University has discriminated against Jews in the past. The dental school dean, Jimmy Carter, the firing of the Jewish German professor. But if they make this center, it will be a message that Wagner’s comments are more serious than all of those other crimes.
“But if they make this center, it will be a message that Wagner’s comments are more serious than all of those other crimes.” How, exactly, does that work? So creating a new BSA house negates all other efforts to combat racism/discrimination? Rather than building on each other, each group gets a static allotment, I guess? So to help one you have to hurt another? Really, you gotta walk me through this.
Jimmy Carter wrote an entire book that was anti-Semitic. Then he said that he supported Palestinian suicide bombers killing Jews. And he never had to resign his position at Emory. Wagner supported his right to free speech. If the black students get this “space” to promote black heritage, I will personally contact every Jewish alumni that I know and convince them never to donate to Emory again. The University should not reward this awful behavior. If they do, Wagner should pay for the “space” with his own money.
That’s an interesting logic string…
“If the black students get this “space” to promote black heritage, I will personally contact every Jewish alumni that I know and convince them never to donate to Emory again.” Really, bro? Black students get a campus life center (modeled on the one at Yale, no less), maybe get back one of the several dorms that have been closed, and you’re going to a pursue an alumni boycott campaign – targeting jews as an aggrieved constituency? Really? Shrill and unreflective much?
Yale has way more money than Emory. Also, you knew that there was no center before you chose Emory. If you’re so upset, LEAVE!
you are aware that Emory has a 1.69 billion endowment, yes? Like, the 16th highest in the nation?
Again, bro, we have a 5.4$ billion endowment and just raised 1.69$ billion through campaign Emory. Our operating budget is at a record surplus. As with the question about SAT data above, I don’t think you actually have a grasp of the facts – you just have opinions and invoke “facts” as you wish to support them. Maybe the online comments mode isn’t so good for you – maybe you’d be better served coming to campus (if you aren’t here already) and holding a sign or something. Maybe instead of threatening to withhold donations and accusing people of wanting handouts anonymously, you should actually come here and talk to those people directly. Until you show up here and actually start saying “here’s the door” to the faces of black students and their supporters who were at last week’s rally you’re no better than any other online troll: ignorant, more than a little bigoted, unreflectively self-righteous, and cowardly. I’m one feeding you.
*done feeding you.
Bro! Don’t be a stranger – that chant wasn’t me actually. For starters I wouldn’t rhyme genocide.
I hope some of you with these ridiculous comments print them out and hold on to them. You will really feel bad about yourselves one day, when you realize that you are no better than the people in the 50s who didn’t want minorities integrated in to high schools. This post had NOTHING to do with affirmative action, but yet that is the first thing y’all say. Some of you are disgusting… thats all
Quick, can I just say that black people can’t blend in like other minorities might be able to? Take that into consideration before you start accusing people of not working “their asses off.” Their is privilege in whiteness. All it takes is to look the part.
The vast majority of people don’t work their asses off. Most people claim they do, but in reality only a small percent are motivated to get up early, stay focused and not get distracted. Most people that claim they work their asses off and don’t get rewarded are lying. There’s people who are successful that don’t work hard, but Americans are the most fair minded people in the world and effort pays off in this country. Please stop making excuses. I’m not the prior poster. I’m telling you this for your own good.
Dude, what the fuck are you people spending your time on at Emory. When I went to Emory, no one gave a shit about politics. If you want to be some liberal help the world hippy school there are plenty of Universities that are all about that. But you go to Emory. Relax! You guys need to smoke more weed. Emory is supposed to be the a school for people who don’t give a shit about things they can’t change. The super-materialistic, do the minimum to get the A crowd. And I’m not saying that in a judgmental way. The pseudo-intellectuals who think they can change the world are the ones that become real fuck ups. Spend your time in undergrad partying like a rockstar and like 20 hours a week studying to get all A’s. Then you can get serious in grad school. But don’t talk about politics or racialism or whatever. It’s a distraction from the important things. That’s what all the Oberlin and other liberal arts school kids do. And they end up waiting tables and living at their parent’s houses. Please put your energies elsewhere. You’ll thank me for this.
Emory Quadrangle magazine’s column (Fall 2012) by George Jones, the Goodrich C. White Professor of Biology, writing upon his retirement:
“[E]fforts to increase the populations of African American, Hispanic, and Native American administrators, students and faculty at Emory have taken a back seat to the recruitment of internationals. Emory is a great university. I’ve truly enjoyed my time here and if I were given a do-over, like my young College friend I’d choose Emory again in a heartbeat. But if I were to start over here, I’d do at least one thing differently. I’d make a greater, more vigorous, more sustained and visible effort to increase the population of American minorities, especially African Americans, in the Emory ranks. I would work harder to ensure that the black guy doesn’t always die.”
http://college.emory.edu/home/assets/images/quadrangle/2012Fall/Quadrangle_F2012.pdf
I drop a comment just about every time I like a guide on a site or if I have something to valuable to contribute to the conversation. It’s a result of the fire communicated in the article I browsed. And after reading this report I was in fact moved enough to drop a comment here