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Coexisting Inside the Bubble

Erin Fischesser & Erin Bowen

For Jenny Jacob, a Miami University senior and president of the Association of Jewish Students, experiencing prejudice is nothing new.

"I have faced anti-Semitism my entire life," Jacob said, as she recalled swastikas spray-painted on her high school soccer field.

While enrolled in English 111, Jacob said a classmate, whom she considered to be a friend, told her she would go to Hell because of her Jewish faith. When other students in the class shared similar viewpoints, Jacob took action, asking her professor if she could make a presentation to clear up the misconceptions about her faith.

"I brought in objects used to make Kiddush on Shabbat and gave the class a mini-lesson on Judaism using these tools," Jacob said. "I have learned to embrace my heritage and treat it as an educational tool."

Jacob is not alone in her desire to bring understanding and tolerance to Miami's campus. For Jacob and other students who are in a minority group-based on race, religion or sexuality-one of the greatest challenges is not only to exist, but to coexist.

Meeting at the crossroads

According to sophomore Marissa Sims, activism/outreach chair for Spectrum, Miami's Queer-Straight Alliance, tolerance is tragically missing from both the campus and the city of Oxford.

"Miami's campus has yet to have a day where every minority student felt as though they were treated equal to their white Christian peers," Sims said. "There is definitely a very hostile environment at Miami towards anything 'gay.' Speaking as a straight ally, I have witnessed many events of discrimination towards not only our organization but our members."

Sophomore psychology major Kate Tonnies shared a different perspective.

"I know that discrimination occurs, but I think the majority of students are open-minded when it comes to learning about others with differences," Tonnies said. "College is the perfect time to meet and interact with people different from you and situations different that those you have experienced."

While Jacob and Sims have personally experienced acts of prejudice, first-year Anna Hang shared a more positive perspective on Miami's acceptance of diversity. As an Asian American, Hang said she had not personally experienced any racist actions at Miami, but mentioned that she felt Asians are not as discriminated against as other ethnic groups.

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First-year Larpamon Chatphaisal, who has lived in the Untied States for six years since leaving Thailand, echoed Hang's thoughts.

"I have been in the United States for so long that I don't even notice a lot of (racist actions)," Chatphaisal said.

Despite Hang and Chatphaisal's experiences, Miami traditionally ranks poorly in The Princeton Review's annual rankings related to on-campus diversity. According to the 2008 Princeton Review rankings, Miami is among the top 20 universities in the nation with a homogenous student population.

Tonnies said that despite this ranking, Miami's administration is making steps to improve the state of diversity at the school.

"While the ranking doesn't necessarily surprise me, I know that it is hard for a campus like Miami to make drastic changes overnight," Tonnies said. "Stereotypes die hard, but the administration is trying."

Solving this problem Jacob said, is clearly daunting but potentially realistic.

"You can not force anyone to mingle with another person," Jacob said. "By having diverse organizations on campus, by having a special organization to bring diverse groups together, such as the Diversity Affairs Council, and by having programs with diverse co-sponsors, Miami can create an experience for students to involve themselves with individuals who are different."

James Constantine Hanges, associate professor of comparative religion, said that one thing to consider is that students cannot receive only a superficial exposure to the differences of others, especially in promoting religious tolerance.

"For academic education on the subject of religion to be effective it must simultaneously create the environment where students encounter the 'other' in themselves, in their own tradition," Hanges said. "The kind of knowledge and education that fosters tolerance begins with self-knowledge, with serious and critical reflection."

Looking in

Juanita Tate, director of the Office of Diversity Affairs, admitted that prejudice exists at Miami, yet an individual's experience with intolerance can vary.

"There are people who have experienced it in different ways," Tate said.

According to Tate, it is difficult to say how Miami compares to other schools in racism and prejudice. Tate explained that Miami faces more challenges in part because of the large white population.

According to the Miami University Diversity Report, in fall 2007, only 9.9 percent of the class of 2011, 9.1 percent of undergraduates and 9.2 percent of graduate students are ethnically diverse. The amount of diverse undergraduate students has continued to increase since 2003, but still remains below the comparable figure of 17 percent for the state of Ohio.

Additionally, 26 percent of the class of 2011 are first-generation college students, low-income, and/or ethnically diverse.

According to Ann Fuehrer, associate professor of psychology and women's studies, the make-up of Miami's student body may discourage students with differences to integrate within the student body.

"Miami, being in many ways a very conservative place-socially, politically, economically-quite homogeneous tends to discourage differences and many community members fear, reject, avoid, and denigrate those whom they perceive as different," Fuehrer said.

Regarding students with gender and sexuality differences, Fuehrer said gaining acceptance is especially difficult.

"I believe that students who challenge gender norms are not well understood by others at Miami," Fuehrer said. "That goes for all who challenge gender norms-men who pursue more traditionally feminine majors, such as education; women who pursue more traditionally masculine majors such as accounting; both men and women who reject heterosexuality; gay men; lesbians; asexual people; bisexual or queer people, (as well as) transgender people who may have quite complex gender identities."

Peter Williams, a professor of comparative religion and American studies, said Miami fares poorly when it comes to student knowledge concerning religious differences.

"The level of religious literacy at Miami is not nearly as high as it should be," Williams said. "Miami is certainly not exceptional (in that category) among American colleges and universities."

Hanges agreed with Williams.

"Most students, in fact, most Americans know very little about religion other than their own, and much of what they think they know about other religions is constructed of inaccurate stereotypes," Hanges said. "At least as problematic is the fact that students arriving at Miami, especially students who belong to the major denominations and movements of American Christianity, do not know very much about their own faith."

While education may appear to be the best method to promote tolerance, Cyril Daddieh, professor and program director for Black World Studies, said the quality of education is key.

"There is such a thing as 'miseducation,'" Daddieh said. "In other words, if the education students receive reinforces stereotypes and misinformation, then it is not helpful in promoting dialogue, understanding or empathy.

Addressing the issue

With an initiative to combat Miami's lack of diversity, Tate said the current administration is making a strong effort to encourage minority relations on campus. As part of the Office of Diversity Affairs, Tate and her colleagues work to bring programs, activities and other events to highlight and educate students about diversity expressed through abilities, age , ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic differences.

"I am very hopeful about the changes that will occur," Tate said.

Tate is encouraged by Diversity Affairs programs such as the Community Advocacy Alliance, a group of students, staff, faculty and administrators that join to provide support for students who may encounter prejudice, and the Let's Talk Dialogues, facilitated discussions that tackle a wide range of topics.

For Black History Month alone, at least 25 events were planned, according to Tate.

As a student, Tonnies said that she is impressed with the amount of programs brought to Miami's campus that introduce different lifestyles.

"There are events nearly every day about topics such as Holocaust, black history, Latin culture and dance to name a few," Tonnies said. "I know there are some groups missing, but the effort, the initiative to bring understanding is there."

Tate credited President David Hodge for his willingness and determination to address the problem.

"The president has taken leadership to bring racism and prejudice to everyone's attention," Tate said.

Brought in to specifically address the problem, Christine Taylor was recently hired to serve as Miami's vice president for institutional diversity. According to Tate, Taylor's duties will include communicating directly with Hodge on diversity issues, as well as monitoring and improving diversity through promoting education.

Despite these efforts, effectively implementing a change is an uphill battle, Sims said.

"The student organizations are trying, but things are difficult," Sims said. "Regardless of the efforts of the university, our school will only begin to improve once students who are not minorities start getting involved in organizations."

Along with Sims, several other students are taking the first steps to raise awareness about the prejudice found in the student body.

Senior Whittney Barth, a member of Interfaith Circle said she is working to promote religious pluralism on campus.

"We are planning 'One Call, Different Answers: A Day of Interfaith Youth Service (DIYS) at Miami University,'" Barth said. "As students of Miami, we want to re-shape these interactions to be characterized by education, awareness and respect. In short, we want our campus to be a model of religious pluralism."

According to Barth, the Day of Interfaith Youth Service at Miami will include a service project that will benefit the Oxford community with the hope to encourage a more inclusive environment on campus.

Some students are even taking the issue of prejudice to the city of Oxford.

Sims added that members of Spectrum have been meeting with Oxford City Council to discuss adding sexual orientation to the city's non-discrimination ordinance.

According to Jacob, the Association of Jewish Students worked with Alpha Epsilon Pi, Alpha Epsilon Phi, Interfaith Circle, Faith Lutheran Campus Ministry, Love You Like A Sister, Spectrum and Vision Dance Company to host a semi-formal at the Oxford Community Art Center Feb. 23.

"These organizations came together to create a positive social experience for Miami students," Jacob said.

While coordinating events may be helpful, Jacob also suggested the university continue to assist the process.

"I strongly believe the university needs to create a special pool of funds for diverse organizations to utilize to plan educational programs for the entire campus," Jacob said. "This will help create a well-rounded student body and a culturally diverse campus for everyone to enjoy."

Jacob has also taken up the call to encourage diversity on a person-to-person basis.

"I enjoy explaining Judaism and the elements of my culture to others in an attempt to create a common bond with the discriminator," Jacob said. "I believe people are inherently good and that sometimes it takes a little extra effort for certain people to put aside the differences and learn to enjoy the commonalities."

Lisa Poirier, assistant professor and director of graduate studies for the Department of Comparative Religion, explained the benefits of using education to downplay differences.

"A person with no understanding of Islam might be fearful of Muslims," Poirier said. "A person with no understanding of Native American religious history might have difficulty seeing why Native mascots for sports teams might be offensive to Native persons. The more we know, the more we are able to understand the positions of others, and the less we misrepresent and alienate those persons."

Sims pointed out that efforts to promote diversity would be beneficial to Miami students beyond their years in Oxford.

"(Miami students) will be working with professionals that are black, Muslim, gay, transgender, Asian ... if they do not know a thing about the various cultures associated with these minority groups, they will be at a huge disadvantage," Sims said. "When it comes to business, human resource, politics and medicine-you will not be working with and for other people that are exactly like you."


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