A major diversity goal for UW-Madison officials is “enhancing the campus climate for inclusion.” However, for some students, including outgoing Associated Students of Madison Chair Carmen Goséy, the administration is failing to uphold this ideal.
Recently, Goséy wrote a letter to the campus community condemning the university as an institution that “lacks the capacity, courage, and integrity to protect communities of color.” For some students, her criticisms ring true.
Nesha Ruther and Cortez de la Cruz II, both members of UW-Madison’s First Wave program, said they supported Goséy’s statement. De la Cruz II cited the university’s slow response time to instances of racism on campus—such as the noose incident from October and Nazi symbols drawn in Sellery Hall—as an example of the university failing to protect students of color.
For De la Cruz II, Blank’s quick response condemning the divestment legislation after ASM passed it, was an unusual case.
“It’s like Becky’s last statement, based off of the ASM register, just seems so quick in defense and just so immediate and it’s like where is that for people of color on campus?” De la Cruz II said. “I’ve never seen such a fast response, from her especially.”
For other students, Goséy’s criticisms are not as obvious. College Republicans Chair Jake Lubenow, said he thought administration was doing a lot to inform campus about hate crime situations, but he said he didn’t feel informed enough on the issue to make a strong objective claim.
“As a caucasian student, I don’t understand fully everything that they go through every time that there is a hate crime or there are problems of race on this campus,” Lubenow said. “I can’t fully understand what that is like and I think that’s a point they’ve been trying to make for a long time now. At the end of the day, my opinion is not going to matter nearly as much as what theirs is. Their emotions are much more important than mine when it comes to this kind of issue.”
Although Lubenow said he does not agree with Goséy’s critiques of the university and “the way she went about it as her last stand as ASM chair,” he respects her right to express thoughts about the university.
“I don’t know if it was the best route, but she definitely had the right to say what she feels and I think we all can stand to benefit from hearing her out and understanding what she has to say and why she’s saying it,” Lubenow said.
Although many students— including recently elected ASM Chair Katrina Morrison— said they wanted to see the university repair relationships with the administration and student body, both Ruther and De la Cruz II said Goséy’s letter doesn’t attempt to fix things and that there shouldn’t be an expectation for her to do so.
“[Goséy] as well as POC bend over backwards to even just fight for the basic human rights that we should have on this campus,” De la Cruz II said. “So just asking us to do all those other things doesn’t make sense. It comes to a time when you have to educate yourself.”
For Lubenow, students deserve to express their opinions and have their voices heard. He said the ideal solution for resolving tensions would be to have the Chancellor and the minority community come to an agreement about how to handle situations in a collaborative manner.
“Ultimately, the students of color on campus are entitled to feel or express whatever opinion that they have on what the Chancellor and everyone in the administration is doing with regard to hate crimes and whatever else when it comes to issues that particularly affect people of color on this campus,” Lubenow said. “I think that they’re allowed to express that emotion in whatever way that they need to.”
Ruther said she considered Goséy’s attempt to improve the university by speaking from a position of power admirable. She said she hopes students treat Morrison with more respect as ASM chair and that the university will be more receptive to her.
“I think a lot of us have so much admiration for [Goséy] and her motivation and her energy and how she is really trying to change this university for the better for not just white students because white students don’t need this university to be changed for the better,” Ruther said. “It already works for them.”
