Allow me to clarify three important points.
1. The personal is political. Meaning: who and how you spend your time are political acts that contain power relations. There is a difference between an all-male institution playfully labeling its female party attendees “secretary hoes” versus an all-female institution doing so. This is just one example, there are many, many more. Another: there’s a difference between making fun of someone else’s weight and making fun of one’s own. The examples are endless.
2. The headline attached to my last Wespeak was bit of a misnomer. My point is that “ideas” don’t qualify as an expression of diversity. Ideas, in the Academy, are subject to various rules, formalized by these Institutions. That is, arguing (this is an example, I am certainly not accusing anyone of this) that the KKK deserves a voice to allow for “diversity” is nonsense.
Diversity is about power relations. It’s about redressing the injustice and bigotry held towards minorities beyond a superficial tokenization. One part of this process is affirmative action, another, departments like Women’s Studies, African American Studies, Queer Studies (which doesn’t exist as a dept. at Wes) and Anthropology (to name just a few). While conservatives may sometimes feel stifled at Wesleyan, the radical left is not always so comfortable either. Those who think that discrimination towards minorities at Wes doesn’t exist should read the walls of men’s rooms, attend the next Take Back the Night and consider the situation of an incoming transgender student uncomfortable with Wesleyan’s current housing policies for freshman. What about the students unable to afford the best computers, to eat out all of the time, to buy the newest ipod?
Safe spaces are a method of counteracting these issues (and more). Ideas are always up for debate, identities are certainly not.
3. Finally, whatever the social make-up of fraternities (which is actually dependent on the frat), fraternities by definition are all male. This is my (and the University’s) main objection to them. They solidify the category “male,” obscure the difference between sex and gender and do so in absolute terms. All other identity groups place the caveat: “allies welcome.” Frats do not. This is not an opinion, but an illegitimate form of discrimination. I acknowledge that DKE has opened its doors to female borders. I hope that this continues, so that people of any gender would be comfortable living there, and that the borders become welcomed into the societies as well.
I do not argue the point to claim oppression, of which I’ve been accused (in a personal email). I write to take issue with current power relations and to inspire those who have not considered the topic to start mulling it over, and take a moment and analyze the dynamics of any given situation that you’re in.
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