Six students from varied backgrounds shared deeply personal accounts of prejudice at Wabash Monday night in Baxter 101. The students worked alongside student organizations to organize a Gentleman’s Rule forum in order to craft strategies to improve student life.
Kevin Billups ’10, Kunga Choden ’09, Duncan Dam ’09, Joshua Lopez ’10, Wes Smith ’11, and Dominique Thomas ’11 headlined the forum, entitled “The State of the Gentleman’s Rule.” After the students told their stories, students, faculty members, administrators, and a parent reacted.
Members of the International Students Association, the Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies, the Senior Council, ‘shOUT, and Unidos Por Sangre organized the event. Professors Cheryl Hughes and David Timmerman assisted with planning.
“The question is how we create a culture at Wabash College that no only tolerates differences but celebrates them,” said Timmerman, a rhetoric professor and the forum’s moderator.
Duncan Dam, a Vietnamese international student, spoke about feeling ignored and disrespected at times because of his accent and background. As a sophomore, he had a conversation during which another student told him, “Look at you. You’re just an Asian kid. Your value is nothing.
“I was totally shocked because I never hated him or did anything wrong to him,” Duncan said. “From then on, I asked myself if this is somewhere I want to travel half way across the world to be.”
Kunga Choden, an international student from Tibet, said he did not anticipate much prejudice because he went to high school in the United States and had been mixed into the culture. But he described being verbally assaulted when he was kicked out of a fraternity party. He and some friends were also asked to leave a local dining establishment for no apparent reason.
“There are wonderful people here but there are also some individuals who have made me doubt coming here,” Choden said. “These stories are not just made up. It’s an issue here that is prevalent and is happening. That’s why we’re sharing these stories.”
Kevin Billups talked about his experiences on campus with what he described as interpersonal homophobia and heterosexism. He spoke of not being allowed into parties because of a “no gays rule,” snide comments, and being marginalized artistically in favor of more masculine forms of expression. He would like to be defined by more than his sexuality.
Even the act of speaking one’s native language has caused trouble. UPS President Joshua Lopez described an altercation that ensued on campus when two of his friends were confronted for speaking to each other, at length, in Spanish. “They were told, ‘You are in America. Should speak English.’”
Mr. Lopez became emotional when he expressed his frustrations with the tone some students employ when debating illegal immigration.
“A lot of times illegal immigrants are portrayed as lesser beings, as second-class citizens,” Lopez said. “What kind of atmosphere are we harboring? My dad was an illegal immigrant. I’ve never said this before because of the atmosphere that’s been in this institution about illegal immigrants.”
Freshmen roommates and teammates Wes Smith and Dominique Thomas were the last to share their story. They recounted a timeline of events during winter break that culminated upon Wes’ return to his room after basketball practice. He found the words “Die Niggers!” carved into his and Dominique’s door and immediately called his mentor, MXIBS Chairman and teammate Earl Rooks ’08.
Wes and Dominique felt angry because there were no follow-up actions after the initial response, which included contacting the authorities and an e-mail from President Patrick White.
“As the months kept going on – weeks and days passed by – we never saw any results,” said Dominique, who will not be returning to Wabash next semester. “Experiencing all this is heartbreaking because I’m from Mississippi. I’m not really used to a predominantly white campus. And we get here and we have the MXI to support us. And then you meet friends here of all different races that support you. And then this happens and you don’t know who did it – it could have been your classmates, people in the community – so you’re always looking over your back because you don’t know what could happen next.”
Mr. Smith explained his decision to remain on campus and his resolution to make the campus better.
“The main reason I want to stay here is that I want to make history,” said Smith, whose father was in the audience. “I feel if I stay here I can make changes in the community.”
Audience members were deeply affected by the stories. Students and faculty members actively registered their reactions to the stories and offered words of encouragement, empowerment, and solidarity.
Some audience members argued for more administrative action. Others argued for more personal approaches to address prejudice. Adding and subtracting units from Cultures and Traditions classes, organizing future forums, and establishing official protocols were all suggestions recorded for future deliberations by the Senior Council and other campus groups.
One of the reactions that stood out the most was that of Wes’ father, who had listened silently for most of the discussion segment.
“I have seen the maturity of my son during these most trying times,” said Mr. Smith, who said he was not notified by the administration of what happened to his son. “And as a parent I can definitely relate to what he had experienced here in his first semester. But I just don’t want to end it there. I can also feel for the homosexual brother, the Latino brother, the Asian brothers, because I’ve seen discrimination as well. I attended Bradley University back in 1976. I was a freshman and I recall someone wrote on my door. And I never shared that with Wesley. But I learned from that experience. It’s the same thing I shared with my son: to learn from that experience but at the same time look at ways of providing solutions.”
President White attended the forum, along with Dean Tom Bambrey, Dean Gary Phillips, and Assistant Dean Mike Raters. President White said it’s important to continue defining what it means to be a Wabash man. “There are certain kinds of behavior that should never be excused. And there are certain kinds of calling to account that students have to do, but they also have to have the support of the faculty and the administration in doing that.”
Student Body President Juan Carlos Venis is the Chairman of the Senior Council, and he helped coordinate the event.
“I think it was a great first attempt at having a very broad campus discussion on some issues that are really important to a lot of students here,” said President Venis, who added that the students can always come to the Senior Council with concerns they have about student life issues.
“I think that the discussion tonight struck a chord for a lot of people and spoke to some issues that maybe they weren’t aware of,” said Venis, “especially students who don’t normally have to live through these types of situations. Most students don’t have to experience a racist threat inscribed onto their door. I think it was valuable to hear those stories tonight.”