PARADOX IN PARDISE--Across the country, college students of all races stood in solidarity with the University of Missouri (UM) last Thursday, setting down their books, leaving class early, and pushing aside their personal affairs.
The resignation of UM’s President and Chancellor amidst accusations concerning their indifference to racism demonstrated the power of college students to demand change, inspiring thousands to protest. In response to the resignations at UM, threats were made against black students at many U.S. universities.
As a white undergraduate at the University of Southern California (USC), I was deeply disturbed by the lack of resulting outrage among many of my peers, none of which lack intelligence or ambition.
As students around the nation spoke out in distress, a large portion of USC students seemed to be shrouded in the perpetual sunshine of Southern California. After sending reminders about the Thursday rally to my friends, I was met with apologetic remarks about too much homework, class, and approaching final exams.
Despite only 5% of the USC student body identifying as African American, a pathetically small spattering of non-black and non-Hispanic students attended the event or dressed in black, as the organizers suggested in the rally’s Facebook page. A series of impassioned, eloquent students spoke about the persistence of racism at USC.
Meanwhile, I watched a familiar scene unfold at the Ronald Tutor Campus Center a short distance away: students eating lunch, chatting, and generally going about their business. I began to wonder how change would ever come if USC students, set to take prominent, high-power roles in society in the coming years, continued on as normal under such circumstances.
At Claremont McKenna (CMC), an elite private college only forty miles east of USC, a demonstration held on November 11 drew a large, racially diverse mix of undergraduates. CMC students’ demands included increasing resources for marginalized students, a general education requirement focused on ethnicity, race, and sexuality, and greater diversity among college faculty and staff.
At CMC, the Dean and Assistant Dean of Students attended the protest and spoke about what they are doing to combat systemic racism on campus. CMC students responded by expressing their exasperation with administrators’ unmet promises, and, ultimately, the Dean of Students Mary Spellman resigned last Thursday.
The frustrations and goals expressed by CMC students closely mirrored those made by black and Hispanic students during the November 12 rally at USC. However, USC administration has yet to muster any kind of response to the demands of students of color, not even an email to the campus community.
Comparing my experience at USC to the support rallies that took over campuses nationwide, it became increasingly clear to me that there is a deeply rooted culture of indifference at the university from which I will earn my Bachelor’s degree in May.
Ironically, it was protests against similar indifference towards racism that led to resignations at the University of Missouri and Claremont McKenna. At USC, however, students’ contentment with the status quo serves as a drastic barrier to social progress. In making these discoveries about my university, I began to question the motivation behind USC’s extensive school spirit, which is obvious to anyone who attends a football game.
Ask students why USC is the “best college in the world” and they will cite the financial success of alumni, attractiveness of the student body, vibrant atmosphere on campus, and other factors pointing to wealth and privilege.
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The USC student body is indeed full of talented young people. To some extent, however, USC has become a sort of artificial utopia in which the social issues of the outside world become obscured.
Just two months ago, a fraternity member yelled a racial epithet at the USC student body president Rini Sampath, whose family originated in India, before realizing who she was. (Rini Sampath-photo above)
While there was a small buzz on campus, I heard more prolonged discussion about the incident from my friends at other universities than among Ms. Sampath’s and my own fellow students.
Three-and-a-half years at USC have led me to conclude that the limited interest in social issues on campus, as compared to other prominent colleges and universities, is a result of the students’ obsession with personal financial success, a false sense that USC is a problem-less place, and an overall lack of emphasis placed on using our education to make the world a better place.
(The author of this piece is a white undergraduate at the University of Southern California. She requested her name be withheld out of concern for retaliation.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 93
Pub: Nov 17, 2015
