The Collegian

Issue date: 3/28/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Annie Douglass Brother Michael Avila spoke at the Inclusive Community discussion, which analyzed the friction that disjoins the community and what steps can be taken to avoid exclusiveness and hate crimes.

This past Thursday, students and faculty gathered twice to discuss issues of race, sexuality, and inclusiveness at the discussion on Becoming an Inclusive Community: Facing the Challenges of Racism, Heterosexism, Classism and Ableism at Saint Mary's College. The event drew roughly a hundred students and faculty, some of whom attended both sessions. Broken into three segments, it focused on what made Saint Mary's inclusive, what made it exclusive, and how to promote inclusiveness. The event was based on a free flowing of ideas, concerns, and considerations taken into account when celebrating diversity, criss-crossing from flaws in the administrative approach to diversity to support structures for individuals to reach out.

The discussion was initiated as a response to four racial attacks that occurred beginning the week of March 6 when a flyer that addressed the problem of racism and had been posted independently was ripped apart. That drew the attention of Bill Foley, Chief of Public Safety, who suspected that the attack was the tip of the racism iceberg. His instincts were right, as three more attacks ensued. One involved a racial slur that involved two males, sparking a brief struggle before being reconciled. A third involved a racial slur written on a girl's public birthday card outside her dorm, and the last was a swastika written on a Jewish girl's dry-erase board while she was away.

In response to these attacks, Foley alerted Lisa McRipley, Director of the Intercultural Center, who then organized the Inclusive Community sessions. Foley said, "It is not something we should tolerate. Being here reaffirms our commitment to discuss what is acceptable, and what is not acceptable."

Pink and green post-its were distributed alternatively to those attending, so that they could write either what they thought made the college inclusive, or what made it exclusive. Some inclusive elements were clubs, cultural nights, discussions given by authors, studying abroad, the High Potential Program, intramural sports, graduation, Week of Welcome, basketball games, and quad barbecues. Brother Ron Gallagher, who also attended, said that what made Saint Mary's College inclusive to him was "when people say my name." He thought being able to recognize one another by name and face made us inclusive. Each comment was discussed and then the post-it was put on a display easel, which was full by the end of the evening.

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