"The biological reality of racism is nonexistent. It's a complicated socially constructed concept," stated Francie Chew, a biology professor and chair of the Oversight Panel for the Task Force on Race. "There is no biological concept for saying there are human races in terms of skin color."
With Chew's words in mind - proven and accepted by the scientific community - it almost seems like race, as a fictional construction, shouldn't be a big deal. However Chew asserts that, despite its lack of a biological basis, race matters. "One guess, among other things, is [race] has been constructed for a very long time, to be used," she said. "[Humans] are very visually oriented. People latch onto [race] as an easy thing to look for."
Science aside, Chew's words are true, for some. At Tufts, race is used as an identifying characteristic or a topic of conversation - something that pervades some students' everyday lives. For others, this same topic isn't one of concern, is not readily apparent in their interactions with others, and does not affect their own self-conception.
The opinions of a few members of the Tufts community elucidate just some of thoughts about race on the Hill. Their views do not account for every possible take on the matter. They do begin to evaluate, sometimes from opposite ends of the issue, sometimes in accord, the topic of race.
Student relations
When addressing the state of race at Tufts, students and faculty pointed to several different aspects of the subject, including interactions between students of different racial groups and the function of the culture centers.
"I know it's clich?©, but racism and race is a big issue in the United States," said Rub?©n Salinas-Stern, the Director of the Latino Center. "I don't see how anyone could say race is not a problem."
Senior Quita Deodhar could name a few reasons why - her reasoning greatly differs with Salinas-Stern's comment. "I don't think really think [race] is an issue on campus. I think people make it out to be," Deodhar said.
For Deodhar, race is not an issue because she interacts with people of different races and cultural backgrounds and she sees this happening elsewhere. "In my experience, I've had tons of intercultural relationships," she said.
Sophomore Matthew Berlin disagrees, asserting that limited interaction between different racial groups causes separation. "I wouldn't say race is a problem. I'd say it's more of a precluding situation," he said, explaining that members of races tend to form friendships because of this designated status. "On the whole, I would say there's problems with certain individuals not wanting to integrate."
Junior Anthony Wan notes that people of different races may tend to hang out together, but this is a result of similar interests, not solely because of race. "At Tufts, I feel like sometimes people go with their own cultural groups and other times, they branch out," he said, though those who do stick with their cultural groups "have certain interests, just like drama people or football players."
Friendships and interactions don't boil down to students wanting to stick with their own race, Wan continued. "You hang out with people who you have a common connection with," he said.
Seeing racism?
Wan's opinions about race take the issue to another level, beyond the social aspect. "Personally, I have not experienced any racism at Tufts, but I am aware that there were incidents against my ethnicity that have happened," he said. "It's a problem [for] the entire Tufts community - it could be your own race, it could affect you next, so people should be involved in race relations."
Chew, due to her discussions on the Oversight Committee, wants to make minority students on campus feel comfortable. "Making Tufts a welcoming place for non-whites is still a big challenge. I don't think we've done it satisfactorily," she said, though she does point out that steps have been taken "in the right direction."
Chew hopes to build awareness among students, so that what they say and do is done with sensitivity, so as not to upset others. "There's a lot of work still to be done in classrooms. [Some] students [of color] do not feel comfortable without feeling put on the spot. There's not a lot of comfort zone there," she said, adding that studies have shown when students feel that they are put in such a position - expected to represent their racial or ethnic group - they tend to perform poorly.
In addition to the question of classroom comfort, the issue of faculty of color concerns Wan. "Tufts should actively try to focus on finding faculty of color. I believe every single subject I've taken, other than those in the Chinese department, has been [taught by] a white faculty member," he said, adding that his biology class proved to be the only exception - the class was team-taught by seven professors, one of which was Chew.
This purported lack of faculty of color, in addition to few classes that address different cultures, translates into serious problems, according to Salinas-Stern. "[Latinos] have very few faculty, very few staff, hardly any courses," he said as an example.
Salinas-Stern feels that some students may not see race as an issue because racism is not as obvious as it was in the past. Overt acts of racism are not as common anymore, he said. "People say there is no racism on campus...how it gets played out - [racism] is subtle. There is racism on campus. There is racism at all levels," he said.
Deodhar, however, does not feel that racism is so pervasive. "I've never experienced [racism] myself. Maybe [others] have experiences on campus, like someone made a racial slur or they felt alienated" because of their race, Deodhar said, which is why they feel that race figures into their lives.
Racism, which isn't apparent to Deodhar, is apparent to sophomore Tonia Henry. "I think there's racism everywhere, so I'm not going to say there's not any [racism] at Tufts," she said. "Everyone [at Tufts] comes from totally different places. It's hard to unite everyone because everyone has totally different experiences."
Salinas-Stern agrees that the diversity of backgrounds, which come together at Tufts, makes for a complex mix of students. "Most students I've met here have gone to very segregated schools and live in very segregated communities. They come here and have to be part of a community and race becomes an issue," Salinas-Stern said.
"You're putting people together who have never had this experience before. I've had white students tell me that this is the most integrated environment they've ever lived in," Salinas-Stern continued.
The next step
Due to the concern or lack of concern with race, in its many facets, the future of issues pertaining to race seems to be up in the air. Some students feel that their own peers, in conjunction with the University, could come up with ways of educating and integrating those in the Tufts community. For instance, Wan said that his experience at a students of color program orientation during his Peer Advising orientation turned out to be one of the best events during freshman orientation.
"It's not that people don't want to intermingle, it's that they don't intermingle," he said. "There needs to be a common bond for them to [interact]."
Berlin echoes Wan's ideas, advocating involvement from the culture houses on campus. "They should have more multi- [culture] center events to bring different communities together. There are culture houses - there are opportunities for people to get out there and get involved," he said.
"The funding is there. It's up to the centers to bring it all together - it has to be done by both students and administration," he continued.
On the other hand, Deodhar feels that addressing race in public forums doesn't do anything but aggravate the situation. "[Addressing race] makes a big deal out of it in a certain way," she said. "It makes it a big deal because it makes it unique."
Wan, however, suggests that the Student Advisory Council should actively recruit at culture centers to get a cross-section of opinions and ideas. "You have to have a good representation of people in order to get their interests going. Hypothetically speaking, if all the council members were white, how would they represent the wants or the needs of Asian American, Black American, and Latin American students?" he asked.
But to Henry race is an issue that simply doesn't need to be discussed anymore. "Everyone's always like let's talk about race. I don't feel like anything ever gets accomplished," Henry said. "For me, I'm so sick of the whole race issue. I put it behind me."
Henry doesn't believe that any action will end racism. "[Racism] will always be a problem that exists. I don't think one day we're going to wake up and racism will be gone," she said.
Wan believes that education could create a greater understanding among groups. "Probably the biggest problem we have is [people] being unaware of what exactly it is to be black American, what it is to be Asian American," he said.
In order to educate the student body, Wan advocates giving more weight to certain classes, thereby encouraging students to take them. "[The University is offering] some classes on race in America. How are you going to make people take these classes?" Wan asked. "You can make it [fulfill] a world civilizations requirement. It's little things like these that are integral to a Tufts education - there needs to be something to tip the balance."
Accomplishing such a task isn't easy, though. "The whole curriculum transformation - that's a very difficult thing to do. There's an effort to open up new ethnic studies lines...that's very complicated if it means eliminating something [the faculty] believes in," Salinas-Stern said.
Salinas-Stern doesn't seem to have the answers to all these questions. Neither does Chew, these students, the campus publications, or anyone else. "I could tell you we need courses. But how that happens, I can't tell you," Salinas-Stern said.
