A forum initially billed as a discussion on LGBT concerns at Columbia College Nov. 18 ultimately raised questions among participants about that school's real commitment to diversity in its educational mission.
Many attending the forum, held at 618 S. Michigan Ave., hoped it would address concerns raised with the cutting down the two-part course Gay and Lesbian Studies down to one section each in the upcoming semester. That course's instructor, Victoria Shannon, had said that the class was usually full each semester, so there was no reason to cut it back. Columbia officials countered that the cuts were happening because enrollment traditionally declines by about 10 percent in the spring semester, so deans and department chairs were instructed to cut course offerings by the same amount.
Shannon and many of her colleagues maintained that the reductions undermine not just students interested in studying LGBT issues, but Columbia's stated goals of diversity among its course offerings, faculty and student bodies as well.
Early in the Nov. 18 session, Columbia College Senior Vice President and Provost Stanley Wearden said that the cuts to Gay and Lesbian Studies would not be addressed that day.
"There has been some outcry about not scheduling an LGBTQ course," he said. "There's no doubt that our commitment or lack of commitment—whichever it is—is in fact reflected in or scheduling of course. But my sense was that there was so much response to the scheduling, that I thought this issue hit a deeper nerve in our community. When you hit on a deeper nerve you need to expose that and have a deeper conversation about it."
Wearden said the forum was ultimately a step in getting feedback so the college would "get diversity systemically in everything we do." He further attempted to directly answer concerns that, as a straight white male, he might not be be fully empathetic to the concerns of underrepresented persons within the college community.
"I understand that all those categories—white and straight—are kind of privileged groups in our society, but that doesn't mean I don't understand the struggle for identity, because I went through, in my youth, my own personal struggle for identity," he said. "That doesn't mean that I can't understand struggle for identity. [Another] thing is, privilege is a token with two sides. There's no question that there are some advantages that come with privilege and there are responsibilities that come with it too. I'm in this role as your provost because I'm passionately committed to that responsibility, to my responsibility to help make this institution greater than it already is, a greater place than it already is, and help make this world a better place than it already is."
Wearden remained silent for much of the discussion, which was moderated by Precious Davis, who recently began as Columbia's assistant director of diversity recruitment initiatives, and Lott Hill, executive director of its Center for Innovation in Teaching Excellence.
A number of students said that the school's stated diversity initiatives had not really taken root yet in certain programs and offices. Transgender students, for example, complained of having to repeatedly correct their professors' use of their preferred names and pronouns. Another student said that they had to submit the same name change on numerous occasions to the college registrar.
Others said that syllabi in classes outside the liberal arts realm had yet to begin tackling the diversity initiatives head on. Amy Issac, a student, said, "I can imagine how amazing it would be if we had classes that covered these topics in all the majors. I would love to have a class in interactive arts and media that covers queer characters and queer games, or queer characters and queer films. There is a space at the college for these kinds of classes … and I think that the fact that this room is so filled up that there are people standing in the hall is all the evidence that we need to support that."
One faculty member acknowledged that there was not as much acceptance of LGBT community members amongst their colleagues outside of the liberal arts programs. Associate Professor Jeff Abell said, "I'm distressed by a loss of queer-specific curriculum across the college, but I would like to see queer-specific issues included in a broader sense of the curriculum, so when we're teaching things like art history or music history … that these come up and are openly, in a non-hostile environment, addressed. Academia is a weird area, and homophobia is deeply entrenched in certain disciplines more than others."
Not all departments require faculty to take diversity training sessions, and many suggested it was time for such a requirement to be implemented across the college. Department of Dance Chair Onye Ozuzu said such trainings were required in her department, and that it's led to a more meaningful engagement between students, faculty and the course content.
"What we are finding in our environment is that we are getting into much deeper conversations than just comfort, and pronouns," she added. "We're starting to get into highly interesting and deeply rigorous academic discussions, philosophical discussions, content-driven discussions."
Diana Vallera, a photography instructor who heads up the adjunct instructors' union, eventually asked that the floor be opened up, and participants be allowed to address issues that were going unspoken.
Adjunct Professor Juliet Bond said, "This isn't about one class at all. We have lost sections of Gay and Lesbian Studies 1 and 2, Women in U.S. Society, Race and Ethnic Relations [and others]. I want to point out, as faculty, it takes about two students to pay for us. We're pretty cheap. You don't need that many of us to teach those important classes. If the [school] wants to wait, and fill those classes at the last minute, I am grateful if that class is left open and allowed to fill. If it doesn't [fill], go ahead and cancel it—that's on me."
Some participants did talk about Shannon's class directly, including student Michelle Cockerham, who said that it had opened her eyes to the scope of the LGBT community.
"I didn't even know they existed," she noted. "I was able to learn about these people and it changed my life. It really touched me, even in a spiritual sense."
Shannon said that, even though Columbia still has LGBT-related courses on the schedule, there are not enough. She suggested that the college community needed to keep vigilant about making sure that content keeps getting offered.
"I'm here, I'm queer, and I'm getting really tired—so step up," she added.
