Respecting the voices of marginalized groups

This past week alone, St. Joe’s held multiple diversity-related events, including: “Reentry And Redemption: ‘Walkies’ Films Screening and Q&A” and “Mistaken for Muslim: Identity and Belonging in South Asian America” (See Page 2). Both of these events addressed important topics that many members of our community are unfamiliar with on a personal level. 

As an institute that “strives to educate and care for the whole person across all aspects of identity,” events like these are crucial in order to achieve our mission. 

With St. Joe’s being a predominantly white institution, many students and faculty come from privileged backgrounds. These privileges are apparent in implicit biases and the lack of knowledge about matters pertaining to race, ethnicity, class, gender identity, and sexual orientation. 

These biases can and have manifested themselves into incidents that profoundly hurt members of our community. 

Having these events are an important part of overcoming ignorance. Events sponsored by the IDEP (Inclusion and Diversity Experiential Programming), the DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) Faculty Speaker Series and the CID (Center for Inclusion and Diversity) allow individuals to learn about cultures and issues they are unaware of. 

Oftentimes, these events give students a different perspective than what they might learn in a classroom. Diversity events allow for the St. Joe’s community to learn more about marginalized groups and their experiences. Hearing personal stories directly from BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+ identifying people is the first step to building trust and understanding. 

While these events are truly important for our institution to move towards being a more inclusive community, it is important that attendees of these events treat the speakers and participants with respect. 

Whether it is an individual sharing their story or organizations opening up a safe space to the rest of the university community, these are vulnerable acts, often being done for the sake of educating others.

We urge members of our community to go to these events, but to be mindful of the vulnerability it takes to be open about BIPOC and LGBT identities here at St. Joe’s. 

Attending these events with no intention of learning or participating, but to meet a requirement for a class or an organization instead is disrespectful. 

We acknowledge and appreciate St. Joe’s efforts at hosting events that educate our community on diversity-related topics. While our institution has a lot of work to do, this is an important and needed step in the right direction. 

In order to be a space where students feel safe and respected, our community members need to unlearn their biases and be mindful of the diverse backgrounds, experiences and beliefs that exist on this campus.