Letters to the Editor
Issue date: 5/11/10 Section: Opinion
CLC calls for recourse
In light of a recent attack on our community, we felt it necessary to share with our campus community our feelings and sentiments. DePauw University, it is time for a wake -up call-discrimination and racism are a part of our campus. Whether or not we choose to admit it, last week's "Cinco de Mayo" Facebook event has had a tremendous emotional and mental impact on many Latinos, individuals of color, members of marginalized groups and allies. We strove to combat this hate by educating our campus about the origins of Cinco de Mayo and drawing connections between institutional discrimination present in the new Arizona immigration legislation and the same symptoms we feel on campus. We took this attack on our community as an opportunity to educate. But, the truth is-we were hurt and are still hurting.
It is impossible to convey to anyone who did not attend our rally last Wednesday. As we stood in Academic Quad in coalition with professors, staff members and students from all sections of campus, we cried together, we screamed together and we rallied together against a common injustice that was not perpetrated by just one person, the creator of the Facebook event, nor the 81 confirmed guests. But rather, we united against ignorance that exists on our campus that we rarely take the time to confront.
So, we assembled, and in a cathartic and peaceful protest marched. Should we be expected to just move on now?
No!
We are all questioning, instead of preparing for finals, why the campus that we are so committed to does not value us. Why our fellow classmates do not see this as their issue as well. Or maybe, we are taking it too far? Maybe it is too much to expect that the university we attend would strive to create an environment where our emotional, mental and physical safety was constantly ensured.
President Casey: Do you condone a campus where this happens? Our campus administration has sent us signals that this is okay on our campus. This lack of response is isolating and undeserved.
- Concerned members of CLC and allies
Lack of Understanding Disappointing
As the DePauw Student Government vice president of academic affairs and a voting member of the Committee for Academic Planning and Policy (CAPP), to say that I was disappointed that our proposed curricular changes did not pass at the faculty meeting last Monday would be a gross understatement. Last Tuesday morning after reading the editorial in The DePauw I found myself disappointed once again, but for a completely different reason.
This piece made me question whether the editorial staff had any idea how changes to graduation requirements must occur and, quite honestly, if they had even read CAPP's proposal. The article requested that any changes to the requirements and the reasoning behind them be "something you could summarize in a paragraph." Frankly, I would be extremely hesitant to put the education of future DePauw students in the hands of a faculty that could change graduation requirements based on a mere paragraph. Curricular change must be well thought-out and expressed in a way that makes sense pedagogically and within the scope of what catalogue language is supposed to look like. A simple paragraph will not suffice.
The editorial further stated that "without tangible evidence of what future competency requirements will look like, we struggle to see the benefits for our liberal arts experience." After reading this sentence, I had to wonder if the editorial staff even read CAPPs proposal. The proposal explicitly laid out three courses: a first-year seminar, a foundational discourse seminar, and a disciplinary discourse seminar that would revamp the way writing, speaking, and quantitative reasoning skills are taught at DePauw. These proposed courses, as well as the reasoning behind them was neatly expressed and available to anyone who took the time to read them.
If the editorial staff of The DePauw had presented a well thought-out argument against CAPPs proposal, I would have applauded students who took the time to understand curricular change. To disagree with the proposal based on arguments that clearly show a lack of understanding of both the proposal and the process of curricular change for which it was a part, however, is appalling.
Laura Pearce,
senior
In light of a recent attack on our community, we felt it necessary to share with our campus community our feelings and sentiments. DePauw University, it is time for a wake -up call-discrimination and racism are a part of our campus. Whether or not we choose to admit it, last week's "Cinco de Mayo" Facebook event has had a tremendous emotional and mental impact on many Latinos, individuals of color, members of marginalized groups and allies. We strove to combat this hate by educating our campus about the origins of Cinco de Mayo and drawing connections between institutional discrimination present in the new Arizona immigration legislation and the same symptoms we feel on campus. We took this attack on our community as an opportunity to educate. But, the truth is-we were hurt and are still hurting.
It is impossible to convey to anyone who did not attend our rally last Wednesday. As we stood in Academic Quad in coalition with professors, staff members and students from all sections of campus, we cried together, we screamed together and we rallied together against a common injustice that was not perpetrated by just one person, the creator of the Facebook event, nor the 81 confirmed guests. But rather, we united against ignorance that exists on our campus that we rarely take the time to confront.
So, we assembled, and in a cathartic and peaceful protest marched. Should we be expected to just move on now?
No!
We are all questioning, instead of preparing for finals, why the campus that we are so committed to does not value us. Why our fellow classmates do not see this as their issue as well. Or maybe, we are taking it too far? Maybe it is too much to expect that the university we attend would strive to create an environment where our emotional, mental and physical safety was constantly ensured.
President Casey: Do you condone a campus where this happens? Our campus administration has sent us signals that this is okay on our campus. This lack of response is isolating and undeserved.
- Concerned members of CLC and allies
Lack of Understanding Disappointing
As the DePauw Student Government vice president of academic affairs and a voting member of the Committee for Academic Planning and Policy (CAPP), to say that I was disappointed that our proposed curricular changes did not pass at the faculty meeting last Monday would be a gross understatement. Last Tuesday morning after reading the editorial in The DePauw I found myself disappointed once again, but for a completely different reason.
This piece made me question whether the editorial staff had any idea how changes to graduation requirements must occur and, quite honestly, if they had even read CAPP's proposal. The article requested that any changes to the requirements and the reasoning behind them be "something you could summarize in a paragraph." Frankly, I would be extremely hesitant to put the education of future DePauw students in the hands of a faculty that could change graduation requirements based on a mere paragraph. Curricular change must be well thought-out and expressed in a way that makes sense pedagogically and within the scope of what catalogue language is supposed to look like. A simple paragraph will not suffice.
The editorial further stated that "without tangible evidence of what future competency requirements will look like, we struggle to see the benefits for our liberal arts experience." After reading this sentence, I had to wonder if the editorial staff even read CAPPs proposal. The proposal explicitly laid out three courses: a first-year seminar, a foundational discourse seminar, and a disciplinary discourse seminar that would revamp the way writing, speaking, and quantitative reasoning skills are taught at DePauw. These proposed courses, as well as the reasoning behind them was neatly expressed and available to anyone who took the time to read them.
If the editorial staff of The DePauw had presented a well thought-out argument against CAPPs proposal, I would have applauded students who took the time to understand curricular change. To disagree with the proposal based on arguments that clearly show a lack of understanding of both the proposal and the process of curricular change for which it was a part, however, is appalling.
Laura Pearce,
senior
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Kevin McLoughlin
posted 5/11/10 @ 9:41 PM EST
RE: CLC Calls for Recourse
I agree at first, but then I stop. Allow me to explain.
I agree that the last week's "Cinco de Mayo" Facebook group was an example of racism, however, it also seems to me that the Committee for Latino Concerns - despite its best efforts - has innocently twisted the image of this event into something more sinister than it is. (Continued…)
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