If you were to take a trip over to Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana, there are many things you would see. You would notice the beautiful greenery of the campus, the eye catching modern art, and you would also notice the God awful humidity. You would look around and see people of majority and minority races working together and automatically you feel like you are in a very diverse environment. However, if you look a little closer, you will see something that might change your perception.
Centenary has a well known social stigma, where the population on campus is predominantly the majority race, white/Caucasian. The stigma is apparently in the process of being broken. This school focuses it’s classes to revolve around three major life concepts: how to live a meaningful life, expanding your circles, and sustaining the environment. While students are hard at work studying these concepts, one might perceive that there might be social injustice within the work place of the campus. Looking at the demographics of the faculty, there is currently less than 5 positions held as an educator by someone who is outside of the majority race. However, in the occupations such as maintenance, janitorial facilities, and Sodexo kitchen staff, the majority becomes the minority. In other words, the lower paying labor positions are mainly held by minority races and the higher paying positions are mainly held by the majority race. (For the standing record, Sodexo food services is a franchise and the facilities program is a contracted company. They both work for Centenary so the hiring process is not done directly through Centenary, however Centenary is partnered with these companies.) This can give a student a very confusing environment to learn in. To be learning about social justice, but watch what looks to be social injustice around them every day.
After talking to some of the faculty and staff, it came to light that many of the things said were very similar.
“Feels Mistreated. Goes above and beyond for the students but never any proper recognition. Injustice. No help, Unfair management.” – Facilities (2-7 years of working on campus).
“Not many minority professors to my knowledge. White/Caucasian race in the maintenance labor are usually in charge and paid higher.” – Maintenance (months-few years of working on campus)
“It’s decent work, medical benefits, decent pay, yet still feels discriminated against. I've only seen 3 minority professors since working. White Maintenance comes inside to solve issues, but rarely do you see a minority working on the inside if they belong with maintenance. This is what the market offers, minorities mainly apply for these positions.” –Sodexo Kitchen Staff. (few days-20 years of working on campus).
“There is a false sense of diversity and unity on campus. Discriminated against and constantly shut down when voicing opinions for change.” – Office of Global Engagement Intern/ Junior Diversity Ambassador.
Does anybody feel like there might be a problem here? It is very possible that Centenary has not ever received qualified applicants for higher positions from minorities, but no one ever knows if that is true or not. That would then raise the question as to why haven't qualified minorities applied for these positions? The public only knows what Centenary shows them. If there have in fact been a limited number of minority applicants for higher positions, that might be due to the social stigma at Centenary. The stigma automatically turns many people away. People still give me strange stares when I tell them I go to school there. It’s time to break the stigma Centenary. It’s time for a change, and only we have the power to do it.
