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The United States Students Association held their national
conference at UCLA this weekend to find ways to support the
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community at college
campuses. The issues they addressed regarding safety, resources and
LGBT-sensitive education are important and should receive in-depth
consideration. But if the various councils plan to pursue these
issues the way they have dealt with racial issues in the past
““ using picket signs and identity politics ““ it will
also further segregate students from one another despite their best
intentions.
Student government’s focus on the LGBT community, and
their past focus on access to education in a race-based context, is
indicative of the prevalence of identity politics at college
campuses ““ when people form political coalitions based on
race, gender and sexuality. Instead of establishing coalitions
including a range of interests and individuals, most campus’
coalitions operate within a homogenous circle. But judging on past
experience, the overall good this accomplishes is limited.
Identity politics have achieved some admirable goals at UCLA.
Last year, groups such as the Affirmative Action Coalition, a
largely minority-composed group, orchestrated a series of protests
culminating in the repeal of SP-1 and SP-2, the former UC policies
banning affirmative action from admissions and hiring. Also, the
recently passed comprehensive review policy, which considers life
challenge as a component in the admissions process, is the result
of demands made by groups practicing identity politics. These
groups find strength in numbers easily achieved through a common
identity but simultaneously segregate themselves from groups of
another.
But in achieving these goals, student protesters and
Undergraduate Student Association Council officials lost something
““ an opportunity to unite this campus and educate students
meaningfully about each other’s differences racially,
sexually, ethnically, religiously and politically. Coming to school
clad in red “Access Denied” T-shirts, chanting
“UC Racists” instead of “Regents,” may have
helped overturn SP-1 and 2, but have also alienated most of the
student body.
An average UCLA student is a middle-to-upper-class kid who grew
up without hearing jargon like “white privilege” and
was taught the Civil Rights Movement ended in the 1960s. While this
might be evidence of the need for a diversity requirement, the
reality is we still don’t have one. As a consequence,
identity-based coalitions can’t assume the rest of the
student body knows the civil rights’ struggle is far from
over. When students hear things like “white privilege”
without a context other than slogans and rallies, they react
defensively, angrily ““ and ultimately apathetically.
Identity-based coalitions did not educate average students about
their cause when trying to repeal SP-1 and SP-2, so it’s not
surprising students now turn a deaf ear on these groups despite
their important and sometimes shared goals.
People don’t like to hear bad things about themselves.
White students don’t want to hear that their entire existence
was born on the back of slavery and the working classes. Minority
student’s don’t want to hear they have turned their
back against their community if they are not toting picket signs.
It’s embarrassing, frustrating and unpleasant. Why
can’t the effort to educate them occur in an inclusive,
non-accusatory environment? Even if we had a diverse student body,
the lack of campus community would prevent the goals aimed at by
student activists because of the exclusive identity politics they
practice. Accommodating people who are uncomfortable with these
topics with a different strategy and better information isn’t
diluting the message, it’s sending it. If change is made at
the university level while disregarding non-minorities or
non-activists it will be more difficult to affect policy at a
larger level when these students end up as tomorrow’s
leaders.