Let the truth be told...we have a huge diversity challenge on every university campus

Some will not like this, but the truth will not change. 

Open letter to HU president Hanson and Dean of Students Sickbert, Kline: What about us?

Sometimes a concern written in the prose poem format can make your point!

Editors note: Talking about racial diversity is not enough. We need to experience it. A while back, I heard a university student compare campus life to “living in a bubble.” As part of their educational experiences, teachers need to nudge and even push students out of their cultural bubbles.  While college students might come from different cultural backgrounds, there is no guarantee that they will interact and learn from each other. Often, what we find on college campuses is what some term segregated pluralism, students keeping to themselves and interacting for the most part with their “own kind.” The college classroom and co-curricular activities can help break down these barriers, but college administrators need to focus more on activities, programs, and other initiatives to promote cross-cultural interaction. Furthermore, college presidents need to translate their personal commitment to diversity into organizational change.

By Don Allen, Senior Columnist – Hamline University Oracle student newspaper 2012-2015 (Editorial Opinion) 

Thanks for the cup any-who. 

St. Paul, Minn. - On Feb. 12 the HU senior team put together a top-notch event to celebrate the class of 2015 having less than 100 days before graduating. The event had great food, a cash bar, free champagne and a whole lot of words from the president and HU deans. While I sat with my back turned away from the podium and listened, I began to cringe from listening to the rhetoric likened to a high school pep fest.  The words spoken left out a very important part of the HU student body who did not live in the dorms or have a meal plan. Here today, I ask the question, “What about us?”

What about us? We are the students who transferred to Hamline University that did not take part in the first year student activities. We did not take the class of 2015 photo that appears on Facebook pages and sometimes on the HU website. We did not know about it; of course nobody followed up.

What about us? We figured out that Hamline’s Undergraduate Student Congress (HUSC) was nothing more than a laughable group who’s main concern is to manipulate imaginary power in the name of the HU administration while the student body gets absolutely nothing but empty promises and the students get nothing. We only do drama at home, not on campus.

What about us? We wanted to get involved on campus but were marginalized and dismissed while student leaders decided that students over a certain age were no a part of the HU participation base. We didn’t want to see a movie at the local theater that was meant for children (Big Hero 6).

What about us? We are the students who have children, families, and mortgage bills. We could not attend events made for students who live on campus that could skip right over to the Anderson Center after 5 pm. Where is the consideration for us?

What about us? The single mother’s, who worked jobs, paid for day care and went to school while the fathers of our children were far away. There was not a peep of gratitude for our struggles making it to the final year at HU. Yeah - really, what about us?

What about us? Students of color who wanted HU to take a position on race, gender and sexual orientation that sat by and watched HU go through the motions of boutique social engineering training the campus not to march, protest or voice concerns other than in a controlled environment.

What about us? Students who worked for the newspaper, radio station or had an opinion. Our voices where shut down; the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and expression was silenced by “suggestive overtures” from certain administrators.

What about us? We are veterans who served our country wounded with disabilities that sometimes cannot be seen from the outside who have to contend with a new HU veteran certifying official who will not update us on new benefits and will hardly look us in the eye and say hello when passing. What about the handful of soldiers who left HU because in reality the university is far from being veteran friendly and it is obvious that nobody really cares.

What about us? We have never seen so many university administrators out-of-touch with non-traditional student reality that could be needed for recruitment and retention. The world is changing and it is not what is sometimes represented at HU.

What about us? What happened to the words in celebration for the non-traditional students who did not miss a day of classes in more than three-years at HU despite sick children, schedules of our spouses and work? 

What about us? I know in the classroom HU professors take the time to use the knowledge and experience of the non-traditional student for the betterment of the whole class and learning experiences. This is where the rubber meets the road for HU’s high-impact learning. Unfortunately, HU administrators do not see (or it seems that way) the value of the class of students who will not fall into a fresh-out-of-high-school mentality when we know the real world does not operate on those terms.

In closing, to president Hanson and Dean of Students Sickbert, Kline – if you cannot see beyond the scripted words that only look to acknowledge one caste of HU students who made it to graduation, you miss the point of why HU is a great University. If you do not care, please disregard the above.

What about us? Do I need an apology letter...no, too many of those have been sent out.