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Celebrating diversity at ASU
One of the many problem with diversity training as it is envisioned and practiced on campuses is that it has a tendency to enforce stereotypes rather than dissolve them. The training Arizona State University recently delivered to its dormitory employees is a case in point:
Arizona State University senior Ryan Visconti was told "his kind" wasn't welcome--that he was an abomination and an unforgiveable sinner. He pleaded to join the "church," which was set up Jan. 10 as part of diversity training for ASU dormitory employees.The role-play training took place Jan. 11, one week before the start of the spring semester.
Assigned the identity of a gay Hispanic, Visconti's persistence during the training got him nowhere. A woman with a Southern accent told him there was nothing he could do. She said he was going to hell, and that even Jesus said so in the Bible.
Visconti, a 22-year-old political science major from Mesa, called the role-play an "ultra-clear example" of the victim mentality and liberal bias that permeate ASU.
"It crossed the line," Visconti said. "All it did was reinforce the most disgusting, hateful and ugly stereotypes in our society."
The training was mandatory--and as such may have amounted to a violation of the First Amendment rights of the students required to take part in it. Constitutionally guaranteed rights of association and conscience went out the window with this exercise, which compelled participants to accept rigid stereotypes of race, class, belief, and sexuality:
Visconti said the students who designed the roleplay overlooked their own stereotypes, such as the notion that white men don't have to work for wealth because society gives them a free ride. Or the idea that Christian churches are filled with bigots, and people who support traditional family values such as heterosexual marriage are hateful and narrow-minded."They were basically saying that if you don't feel the same way, you're wrong," Visconti said. "It got to the point that if you weren't a minority or gay, you were supposed to feel guilty and that everything was given to you in life."
To start the role-play, participants were handed coded index cards that indicated their race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. Participants were then told to visit different "life stations" and create their "perfect life."
The stations included booths for housing, banking, church, jail, transportation and employment.
At each stop, Visconti said he was given scripted responses based on his gay Hispanic identity. He was told he could be a landscaper and live in a ghetto apartment or be unemployed and homeless. Meanwhile, students assigned white identities were encouraged to be business executives.
According to Visconti, the exercise didn't focus on any of the positive aspects of diversity.
Visconti was especially annoyed by the training's portrayal of Christianity as homophobic and intolerant: "I am Christian," he said. "And I don't think like that."
Some ASU faculty and staff are acknowledging that the training might have been less than perfectly managed. But none seem to be questioning whether such training ought to exist.
"It's good they are incorporating this training," said one faculty member. "But exercises like this can't just focus on the negative. They need to highlight the differences and advantages too. It all needs to be part of a longer process. If it's not constructed carefully, it exacerbates the problem."
ASU residential life spokesperson Diana Medina defended the program, saying it "was modeled after those at national leadership conferences. She said ASU students designed the exercise, which was approved by Residential Life staff as a way to increase awareness and sensitivity."
If that's true, then the problem documented here extends far beyond ASU's residential life program.
Thank to Mike McKeown for the link.
Posted by acta online at January 30, 2007 08:59 AM
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Comments
Of course she defended the program. If they got rid of these inane and obnoxious exercises, the people who make a living at it would have to get productive wage employment.
Posted by: Art Deco at January 30, 2007 06:04 PM
The really frightening thing about this is that the powers-that-be in Arizona probably will not do anything about it. Either they are indifferent, or afraid, or maybe they think this stuff is fine. It is surprisingly close to being mainstream not only in academia but in much of the business world. If the intention of the article is to make this kind of "training" seem outrageous, it probably will not have that effect. We have "progressed" much further than many of us want to acknowledge.
Posted by: Mike at January 30, 2007 06:51 PM
"or maybe they think this stuff is fine."
Of course they do. It's not as though the infliction of such abuse is somehow unwitting or a mistake: It's very carefully structured and mandatory so that no one can escape it.
Posted by: Federal Dog at January 31, 2007 06:39 AM
Let me make it clear. By "powers that be" who think it's fine, I don't mean the University people, I mean legislators, governor, business types, people on the outside with some authority or influence. They just don't care, or they think it's fine, or they're afraid to speak up and do something.
Posted by: Mike at January 31, 2007 09:23 PM
D'accord with all above commentators. More taxpayers' revenue flushed down the toilet of pc in order to satisfy the political and social whims of the "left-u" establishment and their craven drones in admin offices . . .
Posted by: Jacques Albert at February 3, 2007 05:43 PM