Nike recently released a commercial to promote equality on a wide scale. The commercial, depicted in black and white, shows various athletes from basketball superstar LeBron James to 2-time Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas standing in their respective playing arenas as white boundary lines are drawn to mark the playing field. As Alicia
Keys covers Sam Cooke’s A Change Gonna Come, each athlete explains the importance of racial and cultural acceptance in sports. As the ad continued, I thought that it was a cute little kumbaya think piece, however there was a stark change. The camera then pans to a pensive James standing in the middle of an active basketball court proposing, “If we can be equals here, we can be equals everywhere”. The white boundary lines are then drawn outside of playing fields. On a highway. On a city street. On a government building. It was a creative look into an issue that most people wash over.
In fact, after watching the 60-second clip, I began to look into the equality, or lack thereof, that exists here on the campus of Seton Hall. It is no secret that Seton Hall is, to put it lightly, less than diverse. The University entices students with promises of inclusion, following with the Catholic tradition, but in being here, I’ve experienced the bleached truth. In most of my classes, I am either one of the only minorities, or most times, I am the black student. You know whom I mean. The one who gets stares when a professor dares to mention race, or the one who has to awkwardly tell people of other cultures that saying the N-Word is not okay. Jobs that I did not sign on to do as a college student.
Seton Hall, with all of its strong attributes, lacks in the protection and cultivation of its minority students. Most days I sit in the lobby of Boland and it seems as though the conversation always turns to this topic because of how apparent it is. My opinions aside, I decided to ask some of my peers what their thoughts were on diversity and equality in the university community.
Kimani Key, Martin Luther King Jr. Scholar and Black student, describes the minority community as “small but, mighty”. There are not many of us, but when we are together, change occurs. A phenomenon evident in the various protests seen around campus organized in late night hours by dedicated group chats and word of mouth. Another Black student, who preferred to remain anonymous, was very vocal of her distrust of the university’s practices. She explains, “[Minority] students are not being represented or supported. Look at SGA. Look at the programs. Look at the campus. There’s no diversity.” She even went further to criticize the curriculum in her classes, “Even look at the books they pick for us. We’re not represented. They pick Aristotle or Socrates. They don’t pick philosophers from Africa or Asia”. Although the theories of euro centric philosophers are highly respected, relying on one set of ideals to mold and shape the leaders of tomorrow is close-minded and damaging. Yet it happens on this very campus.
In my conversations with her and other minority students, there was an alarmingly repetitive theme of US v THEM. However, in talking to white students I heard many disparaging opinions. I asked a group of Caucasian students how they felt about the diversity on campus and they all beamed affirmations like, “Yea, I think the diversity on campus is great”. With smiles on their faces, they talked about the one Black friend they had or the one Hispanic/Latino friend they had and they accepted that. Nonetheless, another White student, Patrick Condon, a business major, had different feelings.
Coming from a school “where you can, count like minority groups on one hand”, at first Condon believed that the school “was really diverse”. However, after being here he had a similar epiphany as I'd had: “I don’t think it’s as diverse as it should be”. When I asked why he thought this way, he used the example of Greek life on campus. “I feel like a lot of it is whitewashed. You know? It's like a certain type of
person. Like obviously white people, but even to be more in depth with that, there is one sorority where they all look the same. They all have the same hair color and I think that's ridiculous”, he said, an opinion that has numerical backing. Of the 18 social fraternities and sororities on campus only 1/3 of them are considered ‘multicultural’, and among those, membership is dwindling.
So the question still stands, is Seton Hall heeding LeBron James’ request? I don’t know. In talking with students, I realized that my opinions may be a little exaggerated, but that has been my experience on this campus. In college, I believe that it is important to be exposed to as many different ideas and opinions as possible, and the only way that can happen is through open and honest discussion. Moreover, being aware of organizations like BSU (Black Student Union), FLASH (Filipino League at Seton Hall) and HOPE (Haitian Organization Promoting Education), and attending their programs can help raise cultural awareness. Lastly, if you feel like you’re not being represented, voice your opinion. BE HEARD.
