SAST
Responds to MRC Dissolution
To
The Editors:
It
was with outrage and dismay that we heard about the termination
of the 25 intern positions effectively cutting the Multicultural
Resource Center. Since it is already undervalued, staffed entirely
by interns, these staffing cuts disproportionately affect the MRC.
The MRC is a vital source of support for the many underserved communities
on this campus. The MRC supports members of these communities as
people, as activists and as students, providing educational opportunities
that allow students to see our identities and experiences reflected
and that are meaningful in our struggles. The MRC makes possible
the vast majority of events that address areas of study underrepresented
in the college curriculum; for example, while the College fails
to support and in fact, undermines APA studies, the
MRC Community Coordinators have been integral to the organization
of the APA conference. In addition, although the College has failed
to provide any courses on Native American studies, the MRC has provided
essential support to the Indigenous Womens Series.
The College has proposed replacing the four Community Coordinators
with two non-identity-specific positions in Race/Roots of Multiculturalism
and Gender/Sexuality. It has been suggested that the second position
would also direct the Womens Resource Center. The oversimplified
divisions proposed force already underserved students to compete
amongst themselves for even scarcer resources. Such identity-blind
multiculturalism relies on both artificial divisions and the lumping
together of distinct issues and communities. The current structure
of the MRC, with the Community Coordinators, allows for indispensable
community-specific support as well as collaboration between many
communities. The proposed restructuring of the MRC would fail to
provide this community-specific support; it is ludicrous to believe
that one individual could possibly represent and support all race-related
concerns and efforts on this campus. Not all multiculturalism is
anti-oppression, and the Colleges proposed version is one
such example. Having unsupported people of color, or a WRC, on campus
for example does not make Oberlin College anti-racist
or anti-sexist. Rachel Beverly and the Community Coordinators are
central to anti-racist, anti-sexist and anti-homophobic work on
this campus; they should be commended for their exemplary concern
for students, their dedication and their labor. Instead, the entire
decision process regarding the restructuring was badly handled and
disrespectful to the Community Coordinators, the students, and especially
the MRC director, Rachel Beverly. She was neither consulted on the
restructuring of her department nor invited to the meeting at which
such changes were announced.
The only problem with the MRC as it currently exists is that it
is undervalued and unsupported by the administration. Given the
resources and support it deserves, the MRC would be able to add
a Native American/Indigenous Community Coordinator and continue
to provide meaningful support to those communities that Oberlin
College claims to value but largely underserves.
Finally, it is vital to note that the proposed restructuring of
the MRC is part of a larger conservative administrative trend, which
includes the elimination of need-blind admissions, the institutional
racism that causes the revolving door for faculty of color
most recently, Ms. Charfauros and the utter lack of staffing
support for the WRC, to provide only a few examples. Oberlin College
is in the process of betraying everything it professes to support
in its promotional material; how can its students and their allies
be expected to change the world while under attack by
the administration?
Myrl Beam
College sophomore
Kate Eubank
College junior
SAST
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