Campus Diversity Without the Rancor : Dialogue at Chapman, UCI Is Best Way--Not Violence, Threats of Funding Cuts

Two Orange County universities are doing the difficult work they must do to come to grips with the problem of cultural diversity. It’s an important issue that stretches beyond the campus as Orange County’s population continues to grow more varied.

Chapman University in Orange was rocked this month by a fight pitting two black students against a half-dozen whites, one of whom is said to have provoked the fight with a racial epithet. Complicating matters were the fact that some of the whites apparently were not Chapman students, many were drinking, and all seem to have been attending a party at an all-white fraternity when the fight broke out. Fortunately, the only injuries were relatively minor. The fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha, and the Black Student Union quickly and wisely convened a forum to discuss the fight and the larger issue of racism. Where similar panels attracted only a handful of participants previously, this one drew more than 100 students, teachers and parents. That’s a good sign that people realize there are problems and are willing to listen. One student’s contention that racism does not affect whites was effectively countered by the Black Student Union president, who said that racism affects everyone, on campus and off. Chapman spent much of the current school year focusing on cultural diversity, including observing a Unity Week in January. That worthwhile practice needs to be continued, as was underlined by the attack on the black students.

At UC Irvine, students who organized a hunger strike to dramatize their demands for an Asian-American studies program on campus picked up support from state Sen. Art Torres. The strike, in which students take turns fasting for 24 hours, is a more sensible way of drawing attention to their position than their occupation of the chancellor’s offices last month, or shouting down the acting chancellor when he met them on neutral ground. Universities should be places for dialogue, not shouting matches. Torres hinted to the students at UCI that he might ask legislators to hold up funds for the university; he has persuaded his Sacramento colleagues to withhold funds from the UCLA Law School to protest not giving the Chicano Studies program at UCLA department status.

UCI should have an Asian studies program; after all, it has the largest percentage of Asian students in the continental United States, over 40%. Torres, the UCI administration and the students should work out their differences without resorting to withholding much-needed funds.