The Whitworthian

Issue date: 2/19/08

NOTE: This article contains a correction.

What is racial harmony?

Some consider harmony to be an open, trusting community that actively seeks out diverse voices through constant programming. Others see harmony as a commitment to keeping all feathers unrustled. We ignore honest opinions because they could hurt feelings or come across as politically incorrect. Whitworth administration and leadership programming reflects the former. Various students and administrators have worked hundreds of hours for multicultural and multiracial dialogue. However, these programs do nothing if, at the end of the day, attitudes aren't changed.

Students have to take their own initiative to see racial harmony as a goal, not just a buzzword.

Earlier this month, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities* awarded Whitworth the Robert and Susan Andringa Award for Advancing Racial Harmony. According to a Whitworth press release, the award is given to schools making progress in the areas of diversity, racial harmony and reconciliation. The Act Six program was cited as an example of Whitworth's "campus-wide commitment to diversity and racial harmony." However, according to the Act Six Web site, success is measured mostly by the participant's enrollment rates, average GPA and participation in campus and community leadership positions. The success is only measured in terms of the participants, and not the student community at large. Act Six has plunged Whitworth into a dialogue about diversity. But how is the success of 40 students, many with a unique college experience brushed aside by students at large, a measure of overall success?

We face two challenges. First, if the university is going to be acclaimed for success in racial harmony, it must also accept responsibility for some of the negative fallouts of the past few years. Last spring, a Whitworthian article covered a seemingly isolated residence hall incident that arose because of years of slights, grievances and underground racial tension.

From incidents in Warren Hall, to the resignation of the cultural events coordinator, to the culminating 8th of May gathering, race relations and dissatisfaction with the Whitworth community were hot topics.

This fall, the Whitworth community has been relatively quiet on the topic of race relations. Maybe that's a sign of long-due harmony. Or maybe students are just afraid to say the wrong thing. Maybe they're just tired of being outraged.

An award shouldn't cause us to sit back and relax in our supposed harmonious campus. A certificate doesn't change the fact that students generally respond to race relations with either apathy or exhaustion. Unfortunately, racial harmony isn't something that can be forced by programs or posters, or proclaimed in press releases.

It's not fair to put the burden of ending racial tensions and ignorance solely on the shoulders of cultural diversity advocates and Act Six students.

Racial harmony isn't about programming. It's about hundreds of individual choices. It's about the chaotic crossfire of expectations and reality, ideals and action.

Whitworth prides itself on "community," but that community cannot survive on just the voices of the outspoken: If we want to live in harmony, we have to care, genuinely, about others. The tough conversations and, at times, tense atmospheres surrounding race relations may have brought us closer to achieving that goal.

Editorials in the "In the Loop" section reflect the majority opinion of the Editorial Board, which is made up of five editors.

*In the original posting, the CCCU was incorrectly named. The organization's title is the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.

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