The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, January 24, 2008-5A
Reflections on diversity
The power of difference
By Scott Page
Twenty-five years ago when I was an
undergraduate at the University, abig
reason to be here and not someplace
else, was the library. (By the way, it still is.)
At that time, knowledge was trapped inside
books. It had yet to be digitized and set free.
If you wanted access to the knowledge, you
needed to crawl in between the floors of the
Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library and pour
through books and journals. The University
had and still does have an incredible collec-
tion, far better than most of its competitors.
The world has now changed. Even as I
type, Google's minions scan the Universi-
ty's collections round the clock. Eventually
(almost) all of that information will be a few
well thought-out keystrokes away. Espresso
Royale has become Hatcher.
Despite that fact, being at the University
remains as relevant as ever. The books and
documents have always only been part of
the story. The Michigan difference - not the
endowment-raising capital "D" Michigan
Difference, but the University's intellectual
edge - primarily resides inside the heads of
its students, researchers and faculty. '
That difference is being put to use. Look
out in the world and you will see endless
challenges. Energy. Poverty. Health. Envi-
ronmental sustainability. Obesity. Inter-
national stability. Epidemics. The Spears
family. Will the University of Michigan
meet these challenges alone? No. But read
the newspapers: It's a player. And like most
players, the University has a strategy. Ours
rests on diversity. Over the past decade, the
University has made huge commitments to
interdisciplinary scholarship and building a
diverse community.
These initiatives both leverage the same
core idea: difficult problems require diverse
ways of thinking. Breakthroughs in science
and the arts come about from people bring-
ing new perspectives and tools and from peo-
ple thinking about problems in new ways.
To facilitate new ways of thinking, the
University has created 125 new faculty lines
for interdisciplinary research. By encourag-
ing physicists to bump into chemists and psy-
chologists to bump into political scientists,
the University hopes to catalyze new ways of
thinkingto produce insights, breakthroughs,
cures and the occasional dance piece.
Diverse experiences
mean better ideas and
a stronger community
That same logic applies to the effort to
build a diverse faculty and student body.
People with different life experiences and
people from different cultural, ethnic and
religious backgrounds see problems differ-
ently. They tell different stories. They draw
from diverse analogies. That diversity can
be an engine of progress.
Most people and institutions mistakenly
separate the concepts of ability and diver-
sity. The University's leaders haven't. They
realize that our collective ability depends
on encouraging and leveraging our different
ways of thinking. To that end, they want to
create a campus climate where we not only
get along, but we engage in a meaningful
way.
Confront-
ing difference
takes effort.
Interacting
with someone
who looks dif-
ferent, thinks
differently
and brings
passion
and energy
to strange
topics and
issues can
cause us '
to shrink
rather than
expand. It can
cause us to ques-
tion whether that
person deserves to
be here. But if all
we do is ask "what's
your SAT score?" or
"how many publica-
tions did you have last
year?" we may never get
to the most important ques-
tion: "Got any cool ideas?"
Scott Page is a University
professor of political science,
complex systems and
economics. He is the author
of "The Difference: How
the Power of Diversity
- Creates Better
Groups, Firms,
Schools, and
Societies." 'v
0
z
0
OVERCOMING A HISTORY OF INEQUALITY AT THE UNIVERSITY
SHELDON JOHNSON:
King's dream wasn't colorblind
SATYAJEET DESHMUKH VEWx
Taking responsibility
The word "diversity" has become some-
what of a slogan for the University amidst the
battles over affirmative action in recent years.
On Nov. 8, 2006, diversity was transformed
into a rallying cry for progressive students
and staff when University President Mary
Sue Coleman pledged to continue to fight for
diversity despite the passage of Proposal 2, a
constitutional amendment banning affirma-
tive action. She said the word 21 times in her
address to campus that day, but not once did
she define what it meant. Despite how often
the word is tossed around on campus not a
single administrator has provided students
with a definition.
Students and administrators alike have
accepted the term diversity without a defi-
nition, and it continues to be a part of the
daily University jargon similar to the multi-
tude of confusing acronyms we use so often.
Therefore, I was far from surprised when I
heard that The Michigan Daily was going to
have a diversity page in honor of the Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. People familiar with
King's life and work see this time of year as a
time when many people celebrate a misrep-
resentation of what King stood for or ignore
everything he said after the famed "I Have
A Dream" speech.
SHAKIRA SMILER ittin
I once despised being one of only a few
black students who attended the University
of Michigan. I remember when University
recruiters argued with me for over an hour
because I wanted to attend historically black
Howard University. The prying questions still
ring in my head: "Are you crazy? Do you know
how many students dream of going to the Uni-
versity of Michigan?" I ultimately enrolled at
the University of Michigan, but when I look
at the people in my residence hall and classes
and at my professors, I wonder what would've
happened if I had gone to Howard instead, or
some other university where the majority of
students were black.
After summer orientation, I decided that
there was no way I could ever make friends
with the snobs who assumed they could relate
to me because they listened to Jay-Z or those
who asked what part of Detroit I was from
as if I was supposed to say Bloomfield Hills.
I knew I would never click with the spoiled
good ol' boys who took it upon themselves
to shift their conversation from Advanced
Placement scores to Tayshaun Prince in order
to accommodate me. I soon decided that no
matter how much I ate lunch with them in the
cafeteria, these people would never under-
stand my culture or me.
Luckily, there were about 10 other black
I've heard people on both ends of the politi-
cal spectrum argue that when King said, "I
have a dream that my four little children will
one day live in a nation where they will not
be judged by the color of their skin but by the
content of their character," he meant race
should not be considered. They say that King
dreamed of a society where no one looked at
race. But this is far from the fruth. To live in a
colorblind society would be to live ina society
that doesn't allow people to be proud of their
race and everything it means to them. King
simply dreamed of a society in which people
would not be judged because of their race, not
one where race was ignored.
The constant talk of diversity on campus is
empty rhetoric thatseemingly makes as much
sense as completely ignoring one's race. What
does diversity mean? When I go to weekly
meetings for the Black Student Union I sit
in a room with a group of diverse people. I
sit among people from various cities, states,
countries, ethnicities and socioeconomic
backgrounds. I learn from their experienc-
es, because I haven't had these experiences
myself. We all share the commonality of iden-
tifying as black Americans, but there is so
much diversity that is encompassed in that
identity - as is true for any other identity.
So what does the University mean by diver-
sity? The campus community could be racially
homogenous, but still be diverse. It's time for
our administration to stop seeking pats on the
back for "standing up for what's right" and
"putting their necks on the line" (things I'
heard administrators claim), and put some
substance behind their rhetoric. It's time
for the administration to invest more money
towards the needs of minority students. For
example, more support is needed for the Com-
prehensive Studies Program; Multi-Ethnic
Student Affairs is falling apart; and the Cen-
ter for Afro & Afro-American Studies needs
to be funded like the other academic units so
that it can operate normally when funds are
tight. This list could go on.
The University must stop blaming Pro-
posal 2 for its problems and using affirma-
tive action as its crutch. Affirmative action
was a tool to admit deserving students to
this campus. Those students deserved to be
here and will continue to deserve to be here.
It's time for the University to pick up a new
tool and hammer outa definition for how to
move forward.
Sheldon Johnson is an LSA senior anda
former speaker of the Black Student Union.
The University administra-
tion's recent careless treatment
of matters concerning diversity
has courted controversy from
all possible directions in the past
year. Veterans, disabled fans,
student groups and the federal
government have all taken digs
at the University's apparent lack
of commitment to promoting
diversity on campus.
The results have been obvious:
An institution that once prided
itself in being diverse, welcom-
ing and accepting doesn't feel
the same.
The circumstances have also
led to the decreasing credibility
of the University's new diversity
initiatives. Not all students trust
the administration's intentions
anymore. But our responsibility
doesn't end with simply criticiz-
ing the administration.
When we think about it, diver-
sity at the University is every bit
students' responsibility as it is
the administration's. Playing the
blame game isn't enough.
Diversity is not something the
University can impose upon its
students - student participa-
tion is necessary. And it's sim-
ply not happening. The truth is
that most of us really don't care
because we think that it doesn't
make a difference to ourlives.
As a result, we find ourselves
largely ignorant of the back-
grounds and cultures of the peo-
ple around us. This ignorance
conies across when students
think Mexico City is in the state
of New Mexico or think Indian
students can speak a certain lan-
guage called "Indian." No one
expects us to be cultural anthro-
pologists, but in a world where
living with people from 'iffer-
ent countries and cultures has
become more of a necessity than
a privilege, having a basic under-
standing of other people is the
least we could do.
If you care about diversity
at our university, it's time you
made an effort. Talk to different
people around you and see how
they perceive things - you may
be surprised about how much
you can learn.
Diversity is not just about
numbers, and it's not just the
percentage of black, Asian or
Hispanic people on campus.
Diversity is how different peo-
ple come together, share experi-
ences, enlighten each other and
make this world a better place
to live in.
As Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. put it, "An individual has
not started living until he can
rise above the narrow confines
of his individualistic concerns
to the broader concerns of all
humanity."
Satyajeet Deshmukh is an
LSA freshman and a member of
the Daily's editorial board.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Send letters to:
tothedoily@umich.edu
ig in and standing out
girls living in my dorm my first fall semester
at the University. I got along with girls of all
races, but ISwas comforted knowing that there
were people who wouldn't stare at me, bewil-
dered, when I hot combed my hair. The 10 of
us were determined to find "everyone else," so
we attended all the events sponsored by black
groups. Through these groups, I discovered
a hidden community at the University that
became my surrogate Howard University.
The official University of Michigan pam-
phlets I received in the mail never had pic-
tures from black student events, so I was
unaware that "we" even existed on campus.
Initially, my friends and I didn't know any-
one, but soon faces became familiar and we
learned that the community was close knit.
I began to recognize that a black student
community did not only exist - black stu-
dents were active leaders, movers, shakers
and go-getters. We had taken a large world
that had been denied to us for so many years
and branded it with our presence. We had
become presidents, chairs, advisors, found-
ers, editors and directors of black student
organizations and also organizations that
we weren't supposed to have a voice in,
from the Michigan Student Assembly to The
Michigan Daily.
I finally understood what the recruiters
were trying to explain to me during that
debate two and a half years ago. At Howard,
it would have been easty for me to succeed
because I would have been comfortable.
However, becoming a leader at the Universi-
ty of Michigan would prepare me for becom-
ing a leader in America, where most people
don't look like me, understand me or want to
help me make it to the top. Attending college
here at the University would help me under-
stand the reality that although Dr.. Mar-
tin Luther King -Jr. had the dream, Andrew
Young helped draft the agreement and Bar-
bara Jordan encouraged the implementa-
tion, my generation would have to work out
the kinks of the deal.
As I observe Martin Luther King Day, I
have finally realized that I am living Dr. King's
dream. He wanted me to thrive in those envi-
ronments that didn't extend me an invita-
tion. He wanted me to excel in places that
were considered off-limits. He wanted me to
become a familiar face in an unfamiliar place.
Unfortunately, while I am one of the lucky
ones reaping the benefits of his vision, I worry
that the effects of Proposal 2 will attack his
dream and black students will disappear from
the University of Michigan once again.
Shakira Smiler is an LSA junior.
4
4 i ~1