The Collegian Wednesday, March 14,1990
Letters to the editor:
Faculty member responds to
Spanos' opinions on diversity
Where do I sign up to join the
Spanos fan club?
Spanos' column is the best
thing that's happened to the
Collegianj since Love Rob. I'm
not implying Prindle and Spanos
have anything in common except
maybe species identification, but
her column does introduce a
lively exchange of opinions, and
brings taboo issues out into the
open. That can't be anything but
good at a college.
Spanos refers repeatedly (in
her last column) to the
"extremity" of the university's
position on cultural diversity.
She says we're all being "beaten
Student disgusted
with cigarette butts
littering campus
Dear Editor:
People at Behrend can hardly help but notice the variety of
cigarette butts littering the campus grounds. This letter is not
going to discuss the well-known health risks of smoking. Instead,
I'd like to discuss smoking's impact on the campus.
After I leave my car and begin to walk to class, I cannot help
but notice the cigarette butts floating in tire ruts filled with mud
water and stuck in the cracks of sidewalks. While passing a bench,
I noticed hundreds of cigarettes butts all around it. The bench
appeared to be a cigarette snuffer stuck in the middle of a large
ashtray.
While entering Turnbull, you will see the dried leaves, pine
needles, holly bushes, ground covering pachysandra, and cigarette
butts. Not rain, nor sleet, nor even snow will stop faculty and
students from huddling near a vestibule smoking a cigarette.
If the college administration could find even one well ventilated
room, the smokers would probably use an ashtray rather than the
grounds. The college may also want to consider starting a
counselling group to help those who would like to break their
strong addiction to nicotine.
The Collegian
Published weekly by the students of Behrend College, Erie, Pa
(814) 898-6488
Member of College Press Service
Editor..~Todd J. Irwin
Op/Ed Page Editor.... Rob Prindle
News Editor_Tony Olivfto
News Editor.... Mark Owens
Entertainment Editor.... Robb Frederick
Sports Editor.._John Musser
Layout Editor._Chris Kocott
Photo Coordinator„..Rick Brooks
Business Manager....Christ!e Redmond
Advisor.... Dr. Mike Simmons
The Collegian is a student-edited newspaper
over the head with it." I think
perhaps hers is a mainstream
position, shared by many faculty
members as welKas many
students. Spanos articulates the
convictions of a substantial
number of faculty members at
Behrend who can't possibly say
what they think without finding
themselves in a courtroom or
under institutional censure.
Some, for instance, are tired
of the emphasis on women and
minorities in our prize-winning
speaker series and in other college
events, and are wondering about
the ignored rights of the majority
and the prevalence of what seems
Carolyn A. Maines
Ist semester, Undeclared
to them to be the narrow causes
of special interest groups. Are
they right? Hasn't this cultural
diversity and affirmative action
business gone too far?
The answer is no. It hasn't
gone nearly far enough.
Mainstream white America,
and certainly this college isn't an
exception yet despite its efforts,
is still utterly immersed in
ethnocentric emphasis on white
middle class values, still deeply
and enduringly biased against the
interests of minorities, still
resentful when those whose
voices haven't been heard show a
desire to speak, to be listened to.
Imagine it this way: someone
who has been invisible and silent
in a group of talkative people
finally speaks up and says, "Hear
me. I have something to say."
The group sees this person for
perhaps the first time, listens for
a moment, and then says, in
effect, "Okay, we heard you, now
sit back down and shut up. You
talk too much, you're hitting us
over the head.” The group goes
right back to business as usual.
For those of you who believe
this cultural diversity thing is
silly, that affirmative action-for
that's what program and
emphases on cultural diversity
are, the visibly affirmative part of
the action—has gone too far,
consider these facts about our
own college community.
We have no women or
minorities in policy-making
positions of power. None. None
of our senior level administrators
or division heads are females or
minorities. None. Until very
recently we had no organized
regular offerings in black studies
and women's studies (with the
notable exception of a few of Dr.
Dan Frankforter's history courses
over the years) and we still have
only a few.
Until the university and the
sensitivity of a few individuals in
student services made it possible
fairly recently, the speakers we
had on campus seldom included
minorities or women.
Programming devoted to the
interests of minorities is still
relatively recent on this campus.
We have one full-time black
faculty member. One! We have
one woman at the senior
professional rank. One!
Ms. Spanos, did you know
any of these things when you
The Collegium's editorial opinion is determined by the editor, with the editor holding final
responsibility. Opinions expressed in The Collegian are not necessarily those of The Collegian or the
Pennsylvania State University.
Collegian encourages letters or. news coverage, editorial content and university
uij w** 61 ? s * K)li^^ e typewritten, double-spaced and signed by no more than two persons. Letters
should be no longer than 400 words. Letters should include the semester and major of the writer. All
letters should provide the address and phone number of the writer for verification of the letter. The
Collegian reserves the right to edit letters for length and to reject letters if they are libelous or do not
conform to standards of good
The^°^ gia l ( 898 ' 6488 > is published weekly by the students of the Behrend
College, The Reed Union Building, Station Road, Erie, Pa 16563.
wrote what you did?
Our highly visible black
student services staff members are
here because of the university's
and college's new emphasis on
cultural diversity, and that's a
good thing. But it hasn't gone far
enough until our programs,
policies and curriculum make
special courses, special positions,
utterly unnecessary.
Ms Spanos, when you say
that we're being beaten over the
head by it, I respond that we’ve
got to be~or else we don't notice.
It's simply true that we won’t pay
any attention to things that don't
directly benefit us unless they're
placed squarely in front of us
where we can see them. But is
having these things brought to
your attention the same as
beating you over the head? What
harm does it do you to have
someone suggest that there's an
event you might want to attend, a
speaker you can hear if you
would like to, an argument aired
in the newspaper that acquaints
you fully with the facts, a movie
you can see that might give you
knowledge about people unlike
yourself, or ironically more like
yourself than you might know?
How does what the college has
done in the name of cultural
diversity constitute an extreme,
given the facts I’ve listed above?
I'd like specifically to address
Ms. Spanos' comments on Chris
Reber's article. You call his letter
"just about the most ridiculous
thing I ever heard." What was so
ridiculous about it? How was the
careful, well expressed,
judiciously balanced account Dr.
Reber provided to clarify the
issues for the college community
offensive to you?
How could it be offensive to
anyone, given the clear evidence
that the perspectives of both
groups were taken into account?
How much more resirainedly and
carefully could the administration
have responded to such a delicate,
important human situation? You
find it offensive and useless that
the fraternity was asked to
apologize and to attend a
speaking event?
1 have the impression, on the
contrary, that the way Dr. Reber,
Elvage Murphy and others have
handled this has brought people
closer together and resulted in
both groups understanding each
other to some degree. I know
there's still some bitterness and
misunderstanding in the wake of
it all, but that's inevitable. How
else would you suggest it should
have been done, if these mild,
balanced reprimands and an effort
to increase understanding and
knowledge constitute "beating
them over the head?"
Ms. Spanos wants us to
believe that she thinks diversity
Editorial Policy
should rank right up there at the
top of the list of priorities, but
then she objects to the few things
the college is doing, belatedly and
sincerely, to try to rectify a
previous imbalance. Isn't that
tantamount to saying "sit down
and shut up" to minorities?
And you're going to be
hearing from yet other new
groups of people who have
remained invisible at this college
and want to be seen and heard. Do
you know that we now have
dozens of Asian students here?
When they begin to put up
posters and give us the
opportunity to hear their
problems and interests, is it just
going to be more head-beating?
Why not welcome the
opportunity to learn more about
perspectives outside of your own?
Finally, the most important
point in Ms. Spanos' article is
the one that dichotomizes cultural
diversity and "academics” or
education. The reason it's
important is that the university is
considering implementing further
requirements in cultural diversity,
and people are already protesting
this direction. Ms. Spanos thinks
she has a headache now? There
might be a bigger one coming.
Ms. Spanos seems to think
that academic education and
cultural diversity emphases are
separate. But what is education
about?
Isn't it in part about enlarging
your knowledge of new
information and other
perspectives? Isn't it about
growing beyond what you already
know?L Isn't it about expanding
your world, your mind, to
accommodate the strange and the
new? History courses should
more fully include the
perspectives and achievements of
black people, Hispanics, women,
Asians, Indians, Japanese and
Chinese, Africans. American
literature courses should
incorporate the writing of the
many culturally diverse peoples
in America and women writers.
Some of our professors are
trying to do this, but we’re
hampered by the fact that most
courses and textbooks aren't
designed for these purposes. One
of our own faculty members. Dr.
Frank forter, has written such a
text. But until that minority
studies, in cultural diversity, are
needed.
I'd like nothing better than to
have this full curricular
integration take place. I don't like
the fact that such courses are
ghettoized into special "cultural
diversity" offerings. But we're
decades away from the goal, and
in the meantime, if there are to
be any requirements for a college
(continued on page 6)