The University of Illinois is one of the biggest campuses to be a part of. There are over 30,000 students that attend this campus from different parts of the world with different pasts. This brings a lot of diversity to the campus community, but with that diversity comes prejudice and discrimination. The biggest issues are racial discrimination, disability and LGBTQ/gender exclusion. Racial/cultural discrimination is a big societal issue and with there being so many people with diverse backgrounds coming to campus, racism is bound to show. Cultural discrimination stems from ignorance of other cultures besides your own. The University of Illinois has its own prominent issue dealing with cultural discrimination. The chief was a big part …show more content…
As far as the LGBTQ community goes, there is a lot of open and hidden exclusion on campus. Since this campus is so diverse you’ll find lots of different people with varying sexual orientations and gender identities. Those who identify as anything outside of the social norms are judged and made uncomfortable by the people who are unaccepting of what others choose to be. The issue as it pertains to campus stems from the problems that are facing society as a whole. There are some that bring the negative ideology to campus with them that leads to others being hurt and prevented from enjoying the life a college student deserves. Another pressing issue at Illinois is the inclusion of the disabled. There are many things that the disabled can’t enjoy because of something that they can’t control. There are things such as clubs or gatherings that, people who are classified as disabled, can’t join since it wouldn’t be seen as feasible in their condition. The campus as a whole needs to be more inclusive to everyone that attends and as a …show more content…
Their mission is to support all students of diverse backgrounds across campus. Indeed, cultural houses such as the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center, Asian American Cultural Center, La Casa Cultural Latina, LGBT Resource Center, Native American House and Women’s REsources Center are under the wings of Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations(OIIR) in University of Illinois. They take initiatives to improve campus climate by offering transformative learning experiences to Illinois community so that diversity and cross-cultural engagement are appreciated. A myriad of programs, interactive classes and workshops are offered by OIIR to allow students to thrive in a diverse community. For example, OIIR organizes Lunch On Us weekly. It is a noontime discussion every week featuring panels, speakers, resources that address the diversity and societal issues in University of Illinois. Free lunch are given. They aim to introduce student to the cultures and histories and make them more aware of these issues on campus. Furthermore, they also held events such as FYCare, LGBT Ally Network, Racial Justice Allies and Advocate Training and Veteran Ally Workshop to address the diversity issues on campus and provide support for these minority groups. Through these workshops, awareness are raised and understanding towards each others are
“College campuses are not dominated by widespread racial/ethnic segregation and the racial/ethnic clustering that does occur isn’t impeding intergroup contact.” (578, Hoeffner and Hoeffner). Throughout the essay, the writer continues to provide facts and sources on the information that diversity is not a problem on college campuses. She quotes evidence that states that college students are getting a “variety of positive educational outcomes that result from being educated in a diverse environment.” (578, Hoeffner and Hoeffner).
The purpose of this organization is to bring people of all racial backgrounds together on a bi-weekly basis in a mission to provide a constructive exchange, including topics of education, culture, civic duty, recreational events, finance, health, and social events to promote the projects and philosophy of Black Students on Campus.
Eisner, D. (1999). Homophobia and the Demise of Multicultural Community: Strategies for Change in the Community College. Retrieved January 2014, from 1998 MLA convention in San Francisco, California: http://www.adfl.org/bulletin/V31N1/311054.htm
It is hard to believe that after electing a minority president, the United States of America can still be seen as a vastly discriminatory society. A question was posed recently after a viewing of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream…” speech of whether his dream has become a reality. After consideration, a majority of the viewers said no. Although many steps have been taken to improve racial equality in America, there is still no way to legislate tolerance. Dr. King’s message of equality for all has been lost in a black and white struggle over the taken meaning of his context. Until our society can allow all people to live in peace we will never truly achieve King’s dream. Case in point, referring to President Obama as our "our First Black President" should not be considered a statement of pride over how far we have come. Placing this racial qualifier, even in a positive light, only serves to point out his minority status, not the fact that he is the President of the United States. According to Dr. King's dream, a man or woman, black or white, would be viewed as President without qualifying their differences from mainstream America.
And finally, colleges and universities have to be inclusive of varied student subpopulations. They need to determine and address the special needs of groups such as racial/ethnic minorities, women, athletes, Greeks, students of different ages, and gay and lesbian students.
“…Everybody jumped on him, and beat him senseless… Everybody was hitting him or kicking him. One guy was kicking at his spine. Another guy was hitting him on the side of his face… he was unconscious. He was bleeding. Everybody had blood on their forearms. We ran back up the hill laughing… He should have died… He lost so much blood he turned white. He got what he deserved…” (Ridgeway 167). The skinheads who were beating this man up had no reason to do so except for the fact that he was Mexican. Racism in this day and age is still as big of a problem as it was in the past, and as long as hate groups are still around to promote violence, society is never going to grow to love one another.
This essay will be arguing that colleges and universities should promote more efforts to diversify and create equal representation of all students. Attending higher education institution for minorities has been an uneasy struggle and one that few minorities accomplish. The dilemma of African American enrollment for example, in a college lecture hall at Texas A&M containing 250 seats, only a maximum 4 out of 250 seats will contain African American students. Unfortunately, many institutions are similar to Texas A&M University, they have an underrepresentation of minorities their on campus in relationship to white students. The lack of diversity keeps stigmas associated with racism relevant and disregards the demographic representation of minorities in America disabling students from identifying with different cultures. There’s evidence from scholars such as Elizabeth Smith and Emilia Plonska, students and instructors that validate in order to promote unity and knowledge of all cultures institutions must promote integration of minorities and increase attendance. Many minorities fail to complete their journeys in higher education which results in unequal representation, segregated environments and unprivileged minorities receiving the benefits of a quality post-secondary education offered at prestige Universities like Texas A&M and UCLA
Issues with racial diversity is not limited to the student body, teachers and admissions people also tak...
Martin Luther King Jr. once said. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” After all of the history the world has with slavery, and racism, all that we’ve gone through, and have come from it’s about time that we put our differences aside, and accept each other for what we are, and aren’t. "Racism is based on the belief that physical characteristics account for differences in character and ability, and that a particular race is superior to another." Racism has been going on since before anyone can remember whether it was owning a slave, killing another person just because of the color of his or her skin complexion, or making a racial joke about a classmate. Nobody is exactly identical to any other person. With that fact being stated, there is nothing to prove that one race can be superior to another. These facts being known, scientist have stopped studying racial differences all together, with the understanding that no person even of the same race is the same. Although these facts have been proved scientifically, racism still seems to be rising. In addition to these facts this paper will tell the history of racism, racial discrimination, and racial profiling.
When diversity is being discussed, there are a plethora of ideas that are associated with it. Whether people are talking being put on a waitlist for college, about people of color, or about representation in the media, the subject of diversity is not rare. Recently, the conversation of diversity has become more common because colleges want to demonstrate that they have diversified campus. How would diversity on campus be defined? Most importantly, diversity is more than having an extraordinary personality. Race, gender, sexuality, and social status are a few of the superfluous traits that make an individual unique in a college’s eyes. In Sophia Kerby’s article, “10 Reasons Why We Need Diversity on College Campuses”, she notes that, while there has already been an effort to diversify high schools and middle schools, accepting students of different backgrounds is not as apparent in higher education (1) . A university desires to diversify its campus in order to benefit the students that are attending the college. Students are not only likely to improve
Society shapes racial inequality in the modern United States and Wayne Brekhus (2015) looks at how social marking is an element of culture in American society. When discussing race, people tend to talk about discrimination against marginalized communities (i.e. non-whites, females, homosexuals, etc.). They actively look at the marked category--those marginalized communities-- and the unmarked goes ignored. Berkhus believes that there are two possible reasons why these unmarked categories are avoided. Either the issue is psychological where individuals “deliberate[ly] disciplin[e] the mind to ignore the irrelevant” or it is sociological and is caused by the “deeply ingrained unconscious pattern of cultural or subcultural selective attention
Most European emigrants left their homelands to escape political oppression, to seek the freedom to practice their religion, or to find opportunities denied them at home. Between 1620 and 1635, economic difficulties swept England. Many people could not find work it was getting harder to support their families. ( North American History)
Prejudice refers to one’s biased opinions and ideas of others, based on secondary information. Hence, the internalized ideas concerning the prejudiced members in society does not result from personal experiences, but information from third parties. Where prejudice is prevalent, the social relationships between the concerned individuals become strained and unmanageable. The existence of equality in society discourages the frequency of prejudice on racial grounds. The content of this discussion explores the concept of prejudice, as it relates to racial inequality and discrimination. The discussion features the Emmanuel AME Church shooting scenario, which characterizes racial discrimination and inequality. The discussion further examines the role
Self-esteem is a personality trait that describes a person’s stable overall perception of personal value or self-worth. This is essential to human growth as it affects relationships, a person’s ability to work, and nearly all parts of life. Children’s development of positive self-esteem is extremely important as it allows for character building such as giving the child the chance to improve on mistakes without fearing rejection from peers. Parents have an extensive role in developing children’s self-esteem due to the limited number of outside factors that could affect a child’s opinions and self-evaluation. Through supportive and motivational parenting a child can develop a high self-esteem that causes them to be more successful
Diversity and Inclusion are important to the University of Toledo’s campus because they don’t just serve to one ethnicity, they serve to many. Many different kinds of cultures come to UT to give themselves an education and to better themselves. Here at the University, they want everyone to get along with each other, since it’ll make coming to school more exciting