With Cinco de Mayo days away, students might want to re-think the way they are celebrating the Mexican holiday.
Themed parties were one of many topics discussed Tuesday during the 13th annual National Conference on Diversity, Race and Learning at the Fawcett Conference Center.
Shakeer A. Abdullah, director of multicultural affairs at Capital University Law School, and Davida Haywood, an Ohio State doctoral candidate, facilitated the discussion on the topic of themed parties on college campuses. Themes such as south of the border parties, pimps and hos parties and parties held on Martin Luther King Jr. day - where people dress as their favorite black person - can be distasteful and degrading to the group represented.
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but it's not imitation, it's mockery," Abdullah said.
Abdullah said themed parties are like modern day minstrel shows and that they are all just in good fun is not an excuse.
Prior to the more intimate workshops, a ballroom of hundreds of representatives from colleges such as the University of Georgia and every OSU satellite campus were greeted by opening remarks from keynote speaker Nancy Barcelo, the vice president and vice provost for equity and diversity at the University of Minnesota.
Barcelo is a national leader in the field of equity and diversity and was the moving force behind the National Initiative for Women in Higher Education. She was also the first Mexican-American to earn a doctorate from the University of Iowa in 1980.
Barcelo referred to diversity as a shared responsibility. It is not the sole problem of those who have been excluded.
"Exclusion compromises excellence by eliminating potential and perspectives," Barcelo said.
She spoke about diversity as a challenging terrain where the public has to begin to "make noise" about issues regarding diversity. These issues not only pertain to race, but other boundaries as well.
She said students should "begin to acknowledge, understand and respect our differences," which is a global issue.
Changes needed in higher education
The conference was closed by Lani Guinier, a professor at Harvard Law School, who addressed issues in higher education. Through many studies, Guinier has found using standardized testing to predict first-year college grades, which many institutions do for admissions, is inaccurate.
"A student's merit can not be measured within the time limit of these tests," she said.
Guinier is the first black woman to be named a tenured professor at Harvard Law School. She has written six books and also lectures at top law schools and universities such as Yale, Stanford, New York University and more than 100 others.
Guinier said she believes academic institutions must reframe their classrooms by sharing power with students. This involves teachers allowing students to run classroom discussions instead of listening to a two-hour lecture.
"We need to go beyond changing lessons in the classroom in order to make meaningful changes in our institutions," Guinier said.
The conference was hosted by the Office of Minority Affairs in collaboration with Huntington National Bank.
The 14th annual National Conference is already scheduled for May 6, 2008. For more information on the event, please contact the Administration/ Special Programs unit at
oma.osu.edu.
Josh Ellis can be reached at ellis.319@osu.edu.
Sierra Reyes can be reached at reyes.221@osu.edu.
2008 Woodie Awards
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