Last fall the University of Georgia conducted the “Count Me In Survey,” which was designed to “address issues of campus inclusiveness” by garnering opinions from students and university personnel.
Now, according to The Red & Black, the survey’s executive summary shows that “[t]wo themes emerged from narratives provided in th[e] data: discrimination and hostile work environment. Students described discrimination in the form of racism and homophobia.”
UGA senior Jazmine Avery offered an example:
“I’ve had professors talk to female students [about] ‘Your boyfriend when you get older,’ but for me personally, my immediate thought was ‘I get the point you’re trying to make, but it would have been nice if you’d just said spouse or partner or something where you don’t have to single out anybody.’”
Avery classified this instance as … “oppression.” Nevertheless, she adds that campus discrimination is “rarely overt.”
“It’s not like anyone’s coming up to all of the black students or all of the Hispanic students and being like ‘You’re not welcome here.’ It’s more just a lot of those subtle undercurrent type things,” [Avery] said. “The best way I can put it is ‘This is not not for you, but it’s just for somebody else.’”
Felix Linzan, a senior from Hinesville studying business management, first encountered discrimination when he was a freshman.
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“I was at Park Hall and was on the phone. I’m Latino, and I was speaking Spanish to my grandmother because she only speaks Spanish,” Linzan said. “There was a group of girls who were in a sorority and they proceeded to mumble something within their group, something about ‘This is America, you don’t need to be speaking Spanish around here. Speak English.’” …
Linzan said a mandatory course in diversity would be a good starting point for the administration.
“There is the online alcohol course for all incoming students, which is a mandatory thing,” he said. “Something like that for a social justice course, just so everyone knows that everyone is different, and to be respectful of different perspectives, I feel like that’d be a good push toward what the administration should go to.”
Mandatory diversity class, eh? Naturally.
Overall, twenty-three percent of those surveyed responded. A target of 30% was needed, Associate Provost for Institutional Diversity Michelle Cook says, “for the survey results to be generalized for the entire university population.”
Additionally, although 16% of respondents claimed to have experienced ““exclusionary, intimidating, offensive, and/or hostile conduct,” 81% reported being “comfortable” or “very comfortable” at the university.
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