Racist graffiti sparks awareness of multiculturalism
Katelin Olson
Staff Writer
If we were not asking it before, the racial slurs discovered in Towers two weeks ago alerted many ignorant factions to the fact that the diversity issue must be addressed.
Twelve months ago, if someone had asked me to describe typical American culture, I would have suggested that Southern California was the microcosm of the rest of the nation. I thought my lifestyle was representative of U.S. society as a whole.
I was not ignorant of cultural differences, but I wondered how they could make Oklahoma, Vermont, Florida or Alabama different from my home state.
Now, almost six months into my college adventure, the way in which I would describe American culture has been irrevocably altered.
As a proud native of Southern California, I am accustomed to multicultural society, where political correctness has developed into an art form.
Vanderbilt has a reputation for being a predominantly conservative, white, Southern, aristocratic university, a reputation that draws a significant number of similar students to its door.
Despite administrative support of increased diversity in the student body, many people feel Vandy should stick to its roots and not try to become something it is not.
It is easy among friends to say, "I'm happy with the way things are. I'm here to get an education, not a lesson in multiculturalism. Why should I care?"
We should care because the issue extends far beyond academia; it is a question at the very core of the American creed.
The value of the term "American" lies in the fact that it does not connote any particular race, ideology or ethnic heritage, because only a small percentage of our population can claim this land as historically theirs.
Students at Vanderbilt have the luxury of learning to see beyond our position within society, of trying to grasp the idea that what divides us is ultimately what is responsible for holding us together as one people.
We should not be content to hide behind walls of ignorance, walls that are as detrimental to the individual as to society at large. We are an educated minority and we owe it to this nation, one which enabled us to flourish, to not allow our backbone to crumble as a result of willful negligence.
The fact of the matter is that if we cannot learn to appreciate the variety and multiplicity of diverse perspectives while still in college, we can never hope to be active participants in an American -- not simply a racial, religious or economic -- society.