In 1942, xenophobic U.S. officials enacted policies that resulted in the internment of over 100,000 Japanese American citizens. 42 Japanese American students at Oregon State University were forced to leave the university and sent to internment camps. Most did not ever return to OSU. On Sunday, June 15th, OSU awarded honorary degrees to every Japanese American student who was unable to complete their degree.

via the OSU Admissions Blog

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Oregon State University leaders have announced a new financial aid initiative that in its first school year, 2008-09, will enable a full 10 percent of the Oregonian students who attend OSU to do so free of charge.

The Bridge to Success Program will pool federal resources with funds from the Oregon Opportunity Grant, the Campaign for OSU and redirected institutional monies to cover all tuition and fee costs for 1,500 in-state students this fall. Additional funds will cover books and supplies for half of those students.

Awards will be based on financial need and students’ ability to show satisfactory progress toward completion of degrees, including taking 15 credits each term.

A theme that I have come across lately is the idea of looking forward in order to move past an issue. I feel that looking forward or forward thinking is a good thing as long as the issue at hand has been addressed. Unfortunately, a lot of times, the concept of looking forward becomes PR speak for not actually addressing the issue but going back to the status quo.

The fall term at Oregon State University provides an example of this idea of doing nothing but saying that we are looking forward type of thinking. In the fall term, OSU’s community was focused on two separate racist incidents. A student wearing blackface was featured on the front of the campus newspaper (ensuing conversations, editorials, and Facebook groups underscored a campus climate that is not bereft of racism) and a noose was hung in the yard of an OSU fraternity. Both incidents received a lot of press and generated several meetings amongst campus community members. An official statement from President Ray was issued in November.

The first half of the statement focuses on the amount of media coverage that occurred in the fall term:

In recent weeks, The Oregonian and other media have carried coverage focusing on the campus climate at OSU regarding race, recent incidents regarding racial symbols and steps the university is taking to address these matters. We have long recognized the need to address such matters here at OSU.

The last paragraph of the statement really sums up my feelings on how the fall was addressed:

I do not want us to engage in a cyclical pattern of negative events, meaningful dialogues, and then business as usual. We have committed to look at the issues students raised and to make progress. The notion that nothing changes is simply not acceptable.

And then the fall term ended. People went on winter break and poof, the racist occurrences from the fall term seemed to have been swept under the rug at the front door of the capital campaign.

Near the end of winter term, an article titled, “A University Examines Underlying Problems After Racist Incidents” was featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education on March 11th (my apologies for the lack of speediness with my post). [Full text].

The concept of looking ahead to the future rather than focusing on racist incidents is brought forth in the article:

Administrators at Oregon State, unlike their peers at many colleges, have taken the view that it would be a mistake for them to focus their energy on responding to various racist incidents. To make lasting progress in diminishing racism, they say, campus leaders must focus on promoting diversity in a forward-looking manner, between the controversies that erupt.

In what I feel is another part of the cyclical pattern of how incidents are handled at OSU, another statement was issued from the president’s office the same day as the Chronicle article was published. Statement issuing seems to occur in conjunction only when significant media coverage is present. The statement speaks of action “through ongoing dialogue, surveys, and other means to assess where we stand and what we must do to make real progress.”

I do not feel that we can look forward without addressing incidents like the ones that happened in the fall term. “Looking forward” becomes code for waiting until people are quiet again and the media has moved on to another story.

I just sent the following letter to Phi Gamma Delta, the OSU Coordinator of Greek Life, and the OSU Dean of Student Life:

Hi Guys,

I am an alum of OSU (Ed.M. in 2006) and a full-time OSU staff member in HHS.

I’ve been following the news coverage of the noose that was hanging in your yard. Recently, I read the public statement that ran in the Barometer. The online version of the paper called it a “statement,” but did not include the term “apology” like the print version. I really respect that you put out a statement as it takes courage to acknowledge something in a public forum, but I have a question regarding the wording and meaning of the statement.

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DB on the idea that silence is approval.

[W]here in all of these voices is the official voice of OSU? I respect Ed Ray and believe that his commitment to diversity and social justice issues is authentic. But the silence from the President’s office is deafening. And the resultant vacuum ends up sounding like a tacit approval of those who would wear blackface, which, since it cannot be scrubbed of its racist roots, is wrong. How difficult would it be for one who is committed to social justice to say just that?

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Several Oregon media outlets have posted stories on the recent black out at Reser Stadium and the noose at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

Update:
Oregon State University Office of the President - Campus climate on race

Corvallis Gazette-Times - Pre-Kwanzaa event interrupts tension

The Oregonian - Racial Dialogue

Statesman Journal - Racist symbols, lame-brained students in Corvallis

The Oregonian - The color of isolation: Blacks battle insensitivity at OSU

The Oregonian - Stunts at OSU strike a nerve of bigotry

Willamette Week - Anti-Racism Protest Tomorrow at OSU

KGW - Race controversies at OSU after noose in tree

KVAL - OSU School spirit called into question

Video from KGW after the cut…

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This photo was taken in front of the Phi Gamma Delta house here at Oregon State University. Apparently the noose was from their Halloween decorations that had been left up accidentally. A student informed me that the original noose included a witch hanging from it. Note that all of the other Phi Gamma Delta Halloween decorations had been removed leaving just the noose hanging from a tree.

I’m sure the fraternity members never thought about the symbolism and historical context of nooses. Once again, racism does not always include malicious intent. The effect of racist symbolism creates an unwelcome and scary environment.

I really hope that Bob Kerr, OSU’s Coordinator of Greek Life, addresses this situation immediately. I also hope that the OSU student newspaper, the Daily Barometer does not try to cover up or silence anti-racist editorials on this situation. (The Barometer has refused to print several editorials that critique the Barometer’s printing of a photo of a student in blackface.)

For more examples of racism on college campuses, check out Vox’s - College Racism Roundup.

Kevin Hampton is a sports writer for the Corvallis Gazette Times. His latest blog post is titled, “Out with the blackout?“. In the post, Kevin states that “the people complaining know very well that there is no connection to racism.” Ummm, nope. I think they know very well that there is a connection to racism. (see blackface and something called “historical context“).

See Kevin’s post and my inner monologue after the cut…

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The Corvallis Tourism website has a page on media praise of Corvallis:

• “Corvallis is ranked as one of America’s Top 25 family friendly enclaves.”
• “the 8th best place in the nation to live”
• “Corvallis is a country place with a collegiate feel that’s also a high tech center and a hippie haven.”
• “Corvallis ranked 10th of all cities of all sizes in the nation.”

Renee Roman Nose’s editorial on blackface and its subsequent banning by the Daily Barometer staff was recently featured in a news story in Corvallis’ newspaper, the Gazette Times. The commentary by Corvallis residents has been appalling. The article, “Black Out Reser’ raises racial spectre,” has brought out white racist sentiment in droves. A follow-up article by Zel Brook of Corvallis-Albany NAACP, “as I see it: Blackface painting at rally was ignorant,” has been overrun with even more white racists. When I moved to Corvallis, I was told that it was a bastion of liberalism. It turns out that Corvallis is a bastion of white liberal racists who have no problem hiding behind anonymous comments that are filled with racism and sexism. By the way, I do not self-identify as a liberal, and this is exactly why I do not.

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We were driving home from Portland the other day when I took these photographs. The sunset was a mix of purples, yellows, oranges, and light blue. I pulled off of highway 34, rolled down the window and snapped a couple quick shots of the sunset just outside of Corvallis.

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