OSCA, Senate and racial diversity

As if Detroit hadn't suffered enough when the factories closed and Berry Gordy went west, the city took another blow this summer. Cecil Fielder, the last of the Tigers' big bats, was asked to turn in his uniform and leave the losing club. Fielder was sent to wear Yankee stripes and be the top of the heap, while the Tigers languished in the cellar.

Baseball players, unless they are free agents, can't choose which club to join. No matter which uniform they like the best, which park is best molded to their hitting style, or where grass grows greenest, baseball players can't choose which club to join.

Oberlin students aren't baseball players. Despite Bud Selig's protestations, humans are free agents. Recently, some groups on campus have forgotten that.

Both OSCA and Student Senate, organizations peopled primarily by whites, have worried lately about their racial diversity. Both organizations are looking for people of color.

The problem is that nobody can be forced to join a club. If people of color aren't interested in spending hours on a Sunday night blowing up balloons and telling stories about the hardships of race, that's their prerogative.

Student Senate and OSCA need to think about why they want a more diverse group and discuss these issues with the people they're interested in attracting. Diversity isn't just to improve conversation over dinner, or compensate for white guilt. It has to seem important and feasible to both parties.

Senate and OSCA shouldn't start compiling scouting reports until they think about why any person of color would want to join their clubs.