Two incidents of racial graffiti in the resident halls were reported a few weeks ago.  Whether these actions resulted from legitimate racial hatred is debatable.  But on a campus that is almost entirely made up of white students, professors and administrators, it is too easy to write off these events simply as child’s play and deny that there is not a deeper, more subtle racial tension present in much of the campus community.

I am not arguing that we need to use every available resource to track down and punish those responsible for these incidents — that would only be treating the symptoms of the problem.  Punishment to the offenders may be what some people really want, but it’s not going to change those people’s way of thinking, it will only prevent their thoughts from manifesting into writing the n-word on a wall.

Others suggested that students discuss the incident among themselves. But requesting that students confront each other and discuss how offended they are about the whole situation is unrealistic and will still do very little to treat the underlying problem.  Racism is a sensitive issue, and is rarely discussed voluntarily.  Plus, even if two white students sit down and talk about it, the conversation wouldn’t actually do anything to alleviate the frustration of the oppressed.  When you factor into the obvious divide that exists between most white students and students of color on this campus, it seems painfully unlikely that much discussion between the two would actually occur.

But we do need to discuss issues of race with each other if we are ever going to get anywhere in resolving racial tension.  What better setting to hold student discussions than in the classroom?  Discussions would only draw five or 10 minutes from the regular course time and would let people express their opinions in an environment where speaking out is socially tolerable.  It would be a time and place where students could feel more comfortable talking about different subject matter and it allows a professor to moderate the conversation, as well as contribute.

Ignoring the situation is not going to improve interracial relations on this campus.  It will only increase the tension.  Action needs to be taken if students of minority races are ever going to feel completely comfortable at UW-Platteville.  Let’s not sweep this under the rug, but rather confront it and break down the walls that exist in our community.

-Andy Burchardt