Column by Wesley Robinson

This semester it seems like the green fee, The Dame and diversity have dominated the headlines and content of the Kernel’s pages. But there is a major difference between the green fee and The Dame in comparison to diversity. Simply put, the first two issues have concrete solutions, and diversity does not.

The green fee either succeeds or fails. The Dame finds a place in which to reside or it doesn’t. But diversity is an enduring battle requiring an entirely different level of diligence.

There have been student-led efforts to help solve the problem; Student Government has created a board to promote diversity through incentives. The inter-Greek relations project came about as a desire to close the gap between the North-American Interfraternity Conference and the National Pan-Hellenic Fraternities and Sororities. And Students United for Campus Climate Enhancement and Student Success exists to bridge the gap between students and administration. The university has played a part in working with diversity, hiring a vice president for institutional diversity, adding funds to minority scholarships and retention, and increasing visual presence of minorities in the “See Blue” campaign.

But even after those and many other efforts, diversity still seems to have a negative connotation on campus — like it’s a bad word. On both sides of the issue, students feel immersed in diversity discussion. Why should you have to learn about something you don’t want to learn about? Other students wonder why they have to put their culture on display and cater to the needs of mainstream campus. Why should I have to teach other people about my culture?

At the end of the day, it is nearly impossible to tell if diversity initiatives are working. There is no empirical measurement that says diversity is working. As the Kernel reported a couple of weeks ago, Student Affairs commissioned an independent group last spring to gauge “Student Perceptions of Diversity Programming at the University of Kentucky.” I, as well as many other students, could have told Student Affairs what the report was going to say. The university could have used the money spent on the report and given it back to the students. Most of us observe and live out the problems that were found in that report.

Utilizing the resources that UK already has will help make the change. Bringing in an outside group is nice, but it hardly makes sense when the initiatives going on around campus are under-funded and lack the support they need. I don’t know how much the aforementioned report cost Student Affairs, but even if it was just a dollar, there should have been a budget adjustment to do more to benefit the students.

Essentially the university is in the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. You put more effort into diversity and enhancing the diversity experience, and students complain that there is too much focus being put in one area, or that diversity is simply a public relations plug to help the university. But if nothing is done, UK is back to the same old policies that promote self-segregation.

Inequalities between various student populations, organizations and individuals exist, and most students are unaware of these inequalities or are not properly equipped to fight a campus that doesn’t have their best interests in mind. Administration should not serve as proxy students’ conscience and actions, but at some point they have to step in and assist students in reaching their goals.

So how can this problem be solved? First, students must embrace each other and make a conscious effort to interact and understand each other. You can’t complain if your contribution to the solution is given in words alone, as both sides of diversity are guilty of this. If everyone makes it a point to go to an event different from their norm, they will most likely find it to be an enlightening experience. This doesn’t mean just for extra credit or because of organizational requirements, but for learning about things different from what you normally learn.

College serves as preparation for the increasingly diverse world. Each day, borders between people dissolve a little bit at a time. It is better that we be prepared for this ever-changing world than feel comfortable about how we are acclimated to the system at UK.