A few posts ago I briefly mentioned the story of UC-San Diego. UC-San Diego caught the nation's eye when the university found itself in the midst of heighten racial tension. In the article medical students protest for the creation of a more inclusive environment. Often times, I reflect on my work as a multicultural educator and social justice advocate and wonder: Do we have to wait for chaos to erupt on a campus before proactively seeking ways to be more inclusive? This question, and several others, haunt me as I delve deeper in the field and area of social advocacy.
Affirmative Action was created to aid disadvantaged communities, however there are countless of US universities who have yet to establish a rooted Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity office. At my current institution, faculty, staff, and students who experience bias and/or hate incidents do not have access to a system where they can report these incidents, hence leaving them feeling unsafe in their new 'home'. Recently, I received a phone call from a university staff member looking for a place to report a bias incident. Being unaware myself about my university's services, I had not other place to direct him to but human resources with the hope that his concern would not just be written and then ignored. Unfortunately, many campuses, and businesses for that matter, ignore most cases because let's face it, they have 'better' things to deal with.
So, in the case of UCSD, their resolution to their situation was to hire an individual to head "Diversity Initiatives". UCSD's current situation clearly represents the way many multicultural centers and AAEO offices are created. They are created out of reactions. We live in a reactive society, and I understand that, however in my field, we have to be proactive, and be the few in many to be proactive. I sometimes wonder how it would feel to just give up, go to my corner, and work to the betterment of my own life? I don't think I want to know. I firmly believe we all enter this world to create a better world for others, selfless service right? What kind of society would we be living in if we all operated from that philosophy? (another blog). Anyhow, of a director for Diversity Initiatives, UCSD did the unspeakable, they fired the director nine months. Nine months? The article clearly articulates my own emotions to their actions. Freire speaks about the need for the 'oppressor' and the 'oppressed' to work together. Until we form relationships of allyship will we be free from each other. I vividly remember sitting in a finance class and the professor talking about mutual funds and stocks, and a whole lot of finance gibberish. I dropped the class. It was not her fault, it was not the subject's fault, I blamed my parents for not teaching me about finance. But then again, it wasn't their fault either. It was society's fault. In my circle of identities (Latina, female, working class) society hindered me from accessing said information. Latinos are not supposed to be wealthy or have stocks, all we are worth is working in the fields. Women don't have high paying jobs, ya'll are better off at home and educating about home economics. Working class individuals just don't need to mess with finances, we'll put you on welfare and say you had it good. Like mom once said, "Ten, y di que te fue bien".
Mrs. Baiz-Torres probably followed all protocol when working to developing Diversity Initiatives, however she spoke up to much. One can also tie this to gender roles and the notion that women should not speak up, or race in the sense that Latinos do not have a voice (hence the concept Silent Voices). I am sure if UCSD had an affirmative action office in place or even equal employment opportunity, the university might have handled this situation better. They would have had a team of multicultural competent individuals aiming for a better working environment for all. After all, affirmative action is about creating equal opportunities for all and protecting the historically disenfranchised communities in the US.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Latinos in Multicultural Affairs
Tip #2: Understand the Challenge(s) you are Welcoming. When I began my job search I wanted a place where I could work with students of color, and the only place I could think of were multicultural centers. For the most part, Texas schools only have multicultural centers, as opposed to individual identity cultural centers like our northern counterparts. So it was no surprise when my job offer came through and it was the Office of Multicultural Affairs. I was excited. I knew it was going to be a challenge, but what I misunderstood were the type of challenges.
This can go for any first-year professional, but I think it's even more salient and pertinent to those in multicultural affairs. Multicultural affairs is a tricky and sticky area in student affairs. It was one of the few centers and/or services that were created out of protests. Every center I can think of that deals with marginalized communities have resulted because of protests from students and the university community. My office was a result of one student who in 1991 felt it was necessary for students of color, specifically African American students, to have a place for solidarity, as well as an increase in faculty of color and courses dealing with multicultural issues. (By the date, you can tell our center is premature considering the emergence of other centers, but what we have to take into consideration is that we are in east Texas).
Anyhow, I have learned that one must slow your pace down, your approach, your attitude, your style, maybe even you stroll. It's not bad, its just having to know, understand, and accept those changes/challenges. It is important to be aware that our jobs may be at stake given the circumstances, come to think of it, we have to be careful. The higher up we go up the ladder, the more careful we have to be, but yet our social justice lens must get sharper and clearer with every advance. It's like a walking contradiction: You have to have a sharp lens, but you have to be careful with how you use it and direct it. Recently, a school in California experienced racial tension, and as a resulted hired a chief diversity officer to 'manage' the tension. At the end, the woman was fired on the basis of her radicalism. Our jobs are on the line. Daily.
Second, you have to come to understand "self-tokenization". This concept came up when a friend of mine and I began sharing our experiences in multicultural affairs. He is Latino and is supervised by a Black supervisor, and so am I. We started thinking about Latino Directors of multicultural centers, but couldn't quite think of any, at least none in our circles. We could think of assistant Latinos, and Latinos who are directors of Latino communities. So, we began dissecting the concept of self-tokenization. Why did we choose to enter multicultural affairs?
I decided on multicultural affairs because I wanted to be the go-to individual for Latino students in Multicultural Affairs. From personal experiences, my friend and I shared how there was a lack of Latino student involvement in multicultural centers at our peer institutions. Why? And that question comes up constantly in conferences where the "Vanishing Latino" theory is addressed. How can we engage Latino students? Latino students on average are less engaged than any other student community, thus being less present in multicultural centers. (This does not include individual identity centers).
So in essence, self-tokenization can look different to many people. However, for multicultural educators, we must prepare ourselves to be "The Only One" in the room, and to slow down. So, do we as multicultural educators tokenize ourselves? And to what extend will we continue to slow down our to accommodate the educational system(s)? Perhaps these two concepts are necessary for the survival of social justice.
This can go for any first-year professional, but I think it's even more salient and pertinent to those in multicultural affairs. Multicultural affairs is a tricky and sticky area in student affairs. It was one of the few centers and/or services that were created out of protests. Every center I can think of that deals with marginalized communities have resulted because of protests from students and the university community. My office was a result of one student who in 1991 felt it was necessary for students of color, specifically African American students, to have a place for solidarity, as well as an increase in faculty of color and courses dealing with multicultural issues. (By the date, you can tell our center is premature considering the emergence of other centers, but what we have to take into consideration is that we are in east Texas).
Anyhow, I have learned that one must slow your pace down, your approach, your attitude, your style, maybe even you stroll. It's not bad, its just having to know, understand, and accept those changes/challenges. It is important to be aware that our jobs may be at stake given the circumstances, come to think of it, we have to be careful. The higher up we go up the ladder, the more careful we have to be, but yet our social justice lens must get sharper and clearer with every advance. It's like a walking contradiction: You have to have a sharp lens, but you have to be careful with how you use it and direct it. Recently, a school in California experienced racial tension, and as a resulted hired a chief diversity officer to 'manage' the tension. At the end, the woman was fired on the basis of her radicalism. Our jobs are on the line. Daily.
Second, you have to come to understand "self-tokenization". This concept came up when a friend of mine and I began sharing our experiences in multicultural affairs. He is Latino and is supervised by a Black supervisor, and so am I. We started thinking about Latino Directors of multicultural centers, but couldn't quite think of any, at least none in our circles. We could think of assistant Latinos, and Latinos who are directors of Latino communities. So, we began dissecting the concept of self-tokenization. Why did we choose to enter multicultural affairs?
I decided on multicultural affairs because I wanted to be the go-to individual for Latino students in Multicultural Affairs. From personal experiences, my friend and I shared how there was a lack of Latino student involvement in multicultural centers at our peer institutions. Why? And that question comes up constantly in conferences where the "Vanishing Latino" theory is addressed. How can we engage Latino students? Latino students on average are less engaged than any other student community, thus being less present in multicultural centers. (This does not include individual identity centers).
So in essence, self-tokenization can look different to many people. However, for multicultural educators, we must prepare ourselves to be "The Only One" in the room, and to slow down. So, do we as multicultural educators tokenize ourselves? And to what extend will we continue to slow down our to accommodate the educational system(s)? Perhaps these two concepts are necessary for the survival of social justice.
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