Eastern: How does something like the Eastern Echo cartoon affect your job?


Barnes: It didn’t put as much pressure on my job as I’m sure people imagine, because I’m from the South and I grew up in an environment where there was blatant racism. Seeing the cartoon didn’t anger me as it did other people; I knew that it wasn’t blatant racism. I don’t take the University to be one that would accept that type of racism. I just saw it as an opportunity to begin to educate the community. It opened the door for greater dialogue, and the more we push to give opportunities for that dialogue, the more opportunities will be created to establish much-needed change throughout the University. Te University has been very good in speak-


ing to the needs of the students, but now I think a more systemic and University-wide approach is needed and is underway, where everybody is contributing to advance diversity and to educate the community. Te cartoon actually got the ball rolling.


Eastern: What are some of the greatest challeng- es in making people sensitive to diversity issues on campus?


Tese two webinars will be instrumental in discussing what the truths are, what the reality and perception are, what exactly is going on and what we’re going to do to address it. I know situations have come up where we administrators


know that a bias incident has happened but the student, out of fear of retaliation, chooses not to say anything. If someone is targeted in some way where a bias incident happens — and it’s not necessarily a crime — that incident affects their quality of life and their ability to feel comfortable as a full-fledged member of the University. Tat’s going to affect that student’s experience at Eastern, and it can affect the University in a lot of ways, too.


The more diverse the University becomes, the more challenging it could become for students to feel welcome. Alumni can share their experiences in helpful ways.


Barnes: Te lack of awareness might be the big- gest. I don’t think there’s any blatant oppressing of people, but the biggest barrier is the lack of awareness and knowledge, which tends to make people afraid and more leery of learning the truth about people who are different. It’s not just a mater of advancing diversity, but of advancing inclusion as well.


Eastern: One of the biggest issues right now is bullying, particu- larly against gay and lesbian students in high schools, which has triggered many suicides recently. Do you see this as a concern at the University level?


Barnes: We hear about situations here and there with students who may have been harassed. Te issue is there, but there aren’t any mechanisms to record and systemically address those situa- tions, so we have co-sponsored two webinars—one on develop- ing a “bias incident” report team and one on cyber-bullying.


Eastern: One of EMU’s strongest qualities is its diverse community. How does this give the University an advantage over other institutions?


Barnes: Te good part is that there’s diversity of perspectives, socioeconomic classes, ethnicities, cultures, religions, things like that—it’s always an advantage, but it also brings a disadvantage if people throughout the University don’t know how to manage that diversity. Te challenge we have is to manage that diversity and to identify inclusive ways to recognize the uniqueness of people, valuing their uniqueness but still bringing them together and having a collective focus on how to move forward while taking all


members into consideration.


Eastern: Obviously every current student is important in doing that, but can alumni have an effect on the campus’s diversity issues?


Barnes: Yes, definitely—because similarities create a sense of comfort. Te more diverse the University becomes, the more challenging it could become for students to feel welcome. What helps is when diverse alumni come back and are able to be more involved with the community, whether as employees or as mentors, just to show students that they did go through Eastern successfully, that they were able to take advantage of resources that current students may not know about. Tat informal net- working makes a big difference when helping students acclimate to an environment as diverse as Eastern’s. 3


Eastern | WINTER 2011 11


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