When I first heard of the renewed interest in establishing an Africana studies department at Tufts, I was rather skeptical. I found highly dubious the claim that a department dedicated to the African diaspora and African-American history would help to heal the racial tensions on campus. After all, Harvard established a department for African and African-American studies more than 40 years ago. Yet when I visited the school during their April open house as a prospective student, I realized the school still has a distinct racial divide. An op-ed by rising senior Jacob Schiller in the Daily last month endorsing Ben Richards, also a rising senior, for Tufts Community Union President briefly mentioned "fringe minority groups that dominate our school, that take their causes and launch them onto every student as if they are issues of life or death."
Initially, I thought he was referring to different racial groups on campus in light of events such as the wrench/gun controversy, the Diversity Task Force and students discussing race at April Open House. Although I realize he may have genuinely meant nothing to do with race, his words affected certain students on that basis. If that were not the case, however, he would by no means be alone in expressing such sentiments or dismissing underrepresented groups in the Tufts community. Rather than vilify Schiller, possibly wrongfully, I want to place his words in a racial context to highlight the larger issues at Tufts. Ultimately, exploring the implications of those sentiments will enable us to carefully weigh the Africana studies department that Tufts is contemplating and to better consider the place of diversity in our university.
First, we need to realize what I have long felt is a much-ignored truth: Lack of information about minorities is no longer the basis for most discriminatory acts. Indeed, from the Group of Six to recent community conversations, Tufts wisely offers many organizations and avenues through which we can all grow to appreciate the validity and importance of each other's concerns. Despite these resources, intolerance and discrimination still occur on our campus. Information alone cannot end bias, although it is an important step. In actuality, many educated and accomplished individuals have been responsible for minimizing the experiences of "fringe minority groups." For a striking example, one need only consider the prominent twentieth-century American historian Henry Elmer Barnes.
Educated as he was in history of all things, Barnes was nonetheless a Holocaust revisionist — better known to some as a Holocaust denier. A lack of understanding of history was clearly not the basis for his determination to deny a historical fact. Keeping in mind that, sadly, prejudice can exist side by side with full awareness of information that, ideally, should make the prejudice impossible will help us temper our expectations of the contemplated Africana studies department.
None of this is to say the department should not be created; I am simply observing that expecting this department, or any programs focused upon historically marginalized groups, to radically change relations on campus is naive. Furthermore, such an expectation excuses the marginalization of diverse groups by holding intolerant stances as products of simple misunderstanding. Reality at this point in Tufts' life, and in American life, is more complex than that. Thus, as long as we keep these realistic expectations in mind, the Africana studies department will not be considered a failure should it not miraculously and instantaneously bring about racial harmony. The department's success must not be measured by such a simplistic approach.
Second, many underrepresented groups, in my personal experience, do feel as though they are underappreciated and insignificant at Tufts. The first step to progress on our campus is to illuminate the ways in which minority groups are indeed still relegated to the fringe at Tufts. The opinion that there is a "time and a place for groups like that, but it is not at the center of our student body's voice" only serves as confirmation of the fact that treatment of diverse voices as less important continues to be a problem. While some may believe that the periphery is the proper domain of those who do not look like them, those of all colors who share Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream must ask how to ensure that all students, all fellow Jumbos, are included.
Furthermore, if those of us who believe all voices deserve to be heard are not in the majority, then we have to ask if awareness-raising actions of the activist students at April Open House are not justified. If being a minority on campus means being a "fringe minority group," then shouldn't students know that before they get here? As a university, we must ask ourselves what our values really are in regard to inclusion. Giving diverse perspectives their proper place in Tufts' academic life through the creation of an Africana studies department may help send a powerful message about which values are dominant at Tufts.
Third, Tufts professes to "value a learning community — of women and men of different races, ethnicities, religions, geographic origins, socioeconomic backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender identity and expression, ages, personal characteristics and interests — where differences are understood and respected." To uphold this ideal, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Lee Coffin should not focus solely on the quantity of students of color. Rather, we must consider the quality of our community and create an environment that welcomes and appreciates each member irrespective of background. We must question the type of community we are fostering where individuals feel free to denigrate others with impunity. Indeed, free speech is an essential civil liberty, but the fact that ridicule and inappropriate, sometimes spiteful, comments are often targeted toward a certain demographic on campus is telling.
Moreover, the aim of diversity is twofold; it is about teaching one another and celebrating our differences. Are those considered the majority, or "average" students at Tufts, diverse? Do they possess unique perspectives and varying backgrounds as well? The onus is on all members of our community — students, faculty and staff — to build a diverse community. People of color add to diversity, but they do not comprise the sole ingredient.
Last, it is important we all realize that an Africana studies department and other efforts to create a place in the sun for all students at Tufts are not part of some crusade against Tufts by disgruntled minority students. Rather than being viewed as attempts to foist the issues of "fringe minority groups" on the campus, these efforts should be viewed as ways to fill an academic hole. All students deserve to have a curriculum that reflects their interests and allows them to learn more about various topics. That is the purpose of higher education and it should not be thwarted simply because that interest is African and African-American studies. How can a school with one of the top international relations programs fail to offer a single African language for the international relations language requirement? Considering that 53 of the world's countries are in Africa, Tufts' oversight is a huge one.
The debates over the creation of an Africana studies department and other campus incidents have exposed the complex relationship of students of color with the greater campus. These issues must prompt us to turn a critical eye on our campus. As Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Joanne Berger-Sweeney stated in the memorandum regarding Africana Studies: "Each generation of faculty, administrators, staff and students must define for itself how to enact this vision of diversity on our campus and how to engage with our aspirational goals. Now it is our turn and responsibility."
