When Boston University’s Laura Jiménez had checked out an ad a colleague sent her from the University of New Mexico’s Mentoring Institute, she was (unpleasantly) surprised.
The faces on the Institute’s brochure were all … white.
Professor Jiménez works at BU’s language and literacy program and is “an expert on diversity” who “studies how children of color get represented in literature,” according to a report by KOB-4.
Her BU faculty page states her research “spans both literacy and literature with a social justice foundation” and that her “central interest in teacher eduction is empowering allies to speak and practice socially just pedagogies in the classroom.”
Jiménez said “And I looked at [the Institute brochure] and I thought, ‘Look at that.'” She then scoffed at the pamphlet’s headline: “A decade of cultivating an inclusive mentoring community.”
But what came next, according to the report, shocked her.
After tweeting about the brochure “Yet another instance of white privilege in academia!” the UNM Mentoring Institute responded with “Every year we invite a great # of colored people to participate in our conference. Those who accept are given every opportunity to present.”
Uh oh. “Colored people”??
But Jiménez wasn’t angry. She said this sort of stuff happens “when people simply aren’t paying attention.”
“And then accidentally or otherwise referring to us as ‘colored people,'” Jimenez said. “All of this begins to add up.”
She said it’s on UNM’s shoulders to clean up the mess.
“This overwhelming whiteness in academia happens a lot,” Jimenez said. “Other organizations that have handled this well begin with an apology. They admit their transgression. They publicly outline what they’re going to do fix the problem.”
University leaders may be on their way in that direction. On Tuesday, university spokesman Steve Carr calls the tweet an “honest mistake,” saying “the tweet does not reflect the goals and objectives of the institute which is to further the reach and impact that mentoring has on the world on a local, state, national and international level.”
“The UNM Mentoring Institute is working on a formal apology that will be sent via email,” Carr continued.
And that apology was sent.
The Mentoring Institute wrote, in part, “We ask everyone to accept our humble apology in the hope that this mistake does not affect the work of more than 300 concurrent presenters already scheduled for this year’s conference.”
No word on whether Professor Jiménez has contacted the National Association of Colored People about updating their organization’s title.
MORE: University of Illinois-Chicago teaches students to use ‘inclusive language’
MORE: University writing center combats ‘racist … unjust language structures’
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