| In 1910, the year leading up to the founding of the NAACP, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois spoke about the role of agitation as being fundamental to the process of social and political change. DuBois noted: "Some good friends of the cause we represent fear agitation. They say: 'Do not agitate; do not make a noise; work.' They add, 'Agitation is destructive or at best negative -- what is wanted is positive constructive work.' Such honest critics mistake the function of agitation. A toothache is agitation. Is a toothache a good thing? No. Is it therefore useless? It is supremely useful, for it tells the body of decay, dyspepsia and death. Without it the body would suffer unknowingly. It would think all is well and danger lurks. The same is true of the Social Body. Agitation is a necessary to tell of the ills of suffering. Without it many a nation has been lulled to false security and preened itself with virtues it did not possess." On Friday, April 28, the progressive student leadership at the University of Wisconsin took a major step in that direction with the Plan 2008 Student Forum that they held in Bascom Hall at the UW. I was honored and humbled by these student leaders when they invited me to give the keynote address for that important event. In the spirit of W.E.B. DuBois, I decided to discuss "The role of student activism in advancing the campus diversity agenda." I have strived, throughout my entire life, to advance the cause of diversity in higher education from just about every possible position, student, student employee, staff, administration and faculty. As a result of these direct experiences, I know more than most about how critical the role of student activism and agitation has been in moving the campus diversity agenda forward. When you toil in the diversity vineyard, you are truly, as the saying goes, situated between a rock and a hard place. Why, might you ask? One finds oneself in a very difficult position because you are invariably lobbying for resources for those who need more, against an administration that increasingly has less and less to give. This task is even more difficult today not only because of declining resources; it is difficult because of declining commitments to diversity by campus leadership and the rise of right wing think tanks and power broker groups equipped with big bucks who are attacking the leadership and programs that push diversity all over our nation. My experiences at the UW and other campuses provided me with opportunities to observe how student agitation and activism made a huge difference in advancing the diversity agenda. I, like many in my generation, witnessed the roles of progressive students in advancing the goals of the Civil Rights Movement, ending the war in Vietnam, advancing the goals of Black Power and community control, and in opening up our institutions to groups that have been historically left out. The history of access to higher education in the past 35 years is riife with many examples of major upheavals and crisis that have occurred on campuses all over the country. I was directly involved in the "Arsonist Crisis" at UMASS Amherst. In the mid-1980s, a student in the "minority" program that I directed was falsely arrested based on a shoddy FBI profile, charged with arson, and put in a men's maximum security jail. A few years later there was yet another crisis that occurred at UMASS when the New York Mets defeated the Boston Red Sox in game seven of the World Series. African American students, who were, for the most part from the Boston area, were Mets fans. They rooted for the Mets because the Mets had more African American players than any other team, while the Red Sox had the most White players of any team in baseball. When the Red Sox lost, Black students taunted the White students and a huge riot ensued and many African American students were badly beaten. The UW has also experienced its share of crisis and upheavals. The Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT) Fraternity's Mock Slave Auction and the Fiji Islander Statue incidents of 1988 resulted in a major crisis on the UW campus. The same can be said about the doctored Admissions Brochure photo that occurred in September 2000. In the wake of each of the various crises, students played a critical role by expressing their outrage and agitated for change through direct action. By doing so, their efforts forced the administration on the various campuses to take notice of the neglect, isolation, hurt and pain that they and their fellow students had to endure. In each case, the administration put together some type of task force or committee which consisted of staff, students, faculty, and community representatives. Each of the committees issued reports (the most famous of which locally is The Holly Report) that gave focus to needs and concerns that just about every administrator at every institution was aware of but chose to neglect. The current equivalent of this situation is being played out on a daily basis at Duke University. Once the dust has settled from the current crisis, there will invariably be a task force and a set of proposals requesting that the administration do many of the things that they knew needed to get done, yet neglected. As one who has been in several senior roles working for the administration at various institutions, I, in no way, intend to demean the administration's role in all of this. I am only stating what is a matter of fact. These crises, the resulting politicization of the campus, the reports, and the aftermath have collectively provided "windows of opportunity" that only the most prudent of campus leaders have been able to harness and tap to move the campus diversity agenda forward. Consistent with "The Wisconsin Idea," UW-Madison has had a long and positive tradition of providing access to students of color and Jews when other prestigious public universities elected not to do so. The students and the administrative leadership at the UW have been very effective at making the most of the various crises, taking advantage of them as windows of opportunity to move the diversity agenda forward. At the Plan 2008 Student Forum, the Multicultural Student Coalition and their progressive allies have demonstrated that they are focused in their efforts to hold the University of Wisconsin-Madison accountable and to be true to its creed. The student's historic role as ";inside agitators" has been and will be vital and necessary if the campus is to continue to make progress in its efforts to provide access and opportunity for all students. |
| The Literary Divide/ Dr. Paul Barrows "Agitation" and the role of students in advancing the campus diversity agenda |
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