ORANGE COUNTY VOICES CAMPUS RACISM : Many Causes and Many Solutions for ‘Backlash’ : The upsurge in prejudice at universities nationwide should be countered by culturally diversified curricula and the strict enforcement of anti-harassment policies.

A fraternity “slave sale” with members in blackface. Racial insults scrawled on dormitory walls. Anti-Semitic slurs in the campus newspaper and leaflets promoting the Ku Klux Klan in the student union.

These are not scenes from another age; they are the disturbing legacy of the 1980s, when incidents of bigotry on campuses across the nation increased dramatically, including in Orange County.

Last October, the New York Times reported that students interviewed at 20 different universities cited “poor race relations” as the most pressing issue they face. In their opinion, improving race relations takes precedence over winning the drug war and saving the environment.

Twenty-five years after the civil rights movement, why is racism a top issue on college campuses, and what can we do about it?

There are many causes and just as many possible solutions. Robert Slayton, an assistant professor of history at Chapman College who specializes in urban issues, gives two critical answers to why racism has increased: a condition of “downward mobility” in contemporary society and widespread misunderstanding of the term affirmative action .

“For the first time in our history,” says Slayton, “in terms of owning a home or achieving monetary success, many kids cannot reasonably expect to do better than their parents--they can’t even keep up. Today’s white college student may be looking for someone to blame for these limitations.” The increased visibility of blacks, Hispanics and Asians on campuses and in contemporary America makes them a target for unfounded fear that there is not enough opportunity in this country to satisfy everyone.

And, as Jon Weiner wrote in a recent article for the Nation, “some (white students) respond to campus racial diversity by proclaiming that all blacks and Latinos have been admitted under affirmative-action programs and thus are taking places away from ‘more qualified’ whites.”

What Weiner implies, and what a great number of students on college campuses seem to believe, is that affirmative-action programs seek to lower requirements for minority applicants. But affirmative action is not about quotas or compromising standards; it’s about goals and timetables. As Slayton explains, “every company sets goals and establishes milestones to measure success. Affirmative action applies the same principles to social issues.”

Thomas Sowell, an author and Hoover Institution senior fellow, noted that when academic institutions have attempted to improve “body count” through lowered standards for minority admission, the result has been the “backlash” of the new racism.

So what will cure the new racism? How can our colleges and universities become the bastions of mutual respect, collegiality and equality we need them to be?

First, the tenets of affirmative action must be clearly communicated to current and prospective students and their families. In recent years, issues of affirmative action and discrimination have not had a high priority on the national agenda. This must change if we are to make equal opportunity a reality in this country.

Next, while standards cannot be compromised, efforts must be made to increase the number of qualified minority applicants. Financial aid for minority and low-income students is crucial, but it is just the beginning, and financial aid does not necessarily qualify a student for admission.

Therefore, the university must focus part of its attention on the local high school. There is a great deal each university can do in its own community to improve high school graduation rates and enhance the college-prep curriculum. For example, Chapman recently hosted full-day conferences for minority students in conjunction with Migrant Education and with the Orange Unified School District. More than 500 local students participated, attending career-planning seminars and goal-setting workshops and interacting with current Chapman minority students. Science fairs, creative-writing contests, cultural events, free tutoring services and scholarships involving high school minority students are all possibilities for this type of community outreach.

A third step is to culturally diversify the university curriculum. Some institutions have established an ethnic studies requirement for graduation. But Sowell warns, “To force upon students courses they have rejected over the years is hardly likely to improve race relations.”

Simply adding another requirement will not work. The key is to integrate ethnicity into all aspects of the curriculum. Faculty throughout the arts, sciences and humanities must make every effort to include less traditional examples of great authors, painters, economists, humanitarians and scholars. The goal is not a separate lecture series for each ethnic group but the inclusion of minority speakers in every lecture series, on every topic.

Certainly, challenging courses in the study of American Indian art, black history, Eastern philosophy, Judaism and other topics must be available to students, but attention to diversity cannot begin and end in these courses alone. As Slayton points out, “if, in the context of taking any course, regardless of its subject, you have the chance to identify with and feel the experience of any minority, you become less vulnerable to prejudice.”

Slayton’s thinking also provides strong support for academic international exchange programs. A year abroad or a year shared with a roommate from another country can go a long way toward decreasing a student’s ethnocentric outlook.

A fourth measure is the careful, explicit construction of an anti-harassment policy, which must be monitored and enforced. Some say policies which punish racist speech and actions inhibit free speech and violate First Amendment freedom, but they do not.

Our First Amendment freedom is not compromised simply because we cannot yell “Fire!” in a crowded room without cause, and the same applies to campus policies that seek to censure racially motivated attacks.

A fifth and final means to improved race relations is institutional support of participation in programs that promote cultural diversity. These projects may include cultural awareness workshops in the faculty lounge and in the residence halls, presentations about cross-cultural communication for the staff and students, and campus clubs that promote ethnic identity, such as Chapman’s Black Student Union and Macondo, which promotes Hispanic culture.

No single effort or combination of efforts can wipe out campus racism overnight, but neither did the situation materialize all at once. The challenge facing every university administration today is to seek and implement the measures that will turn the tide on our campuses as swiftly as possible. Hoping the problem would somehow solve itself, we have waited long enough.