Diversity is a word I find synonymous with Delaware County Community College. All peers are from different walks of life. Your lab partner could be a working single mom and your tutor a Korean exchange student.
In this mix of different cultures and ethnicities it is easy to forget that there are some people here who are still intolerant of those different than themselves.
A few days ago some hate speech was found on a men’s bathroom wall. It read: “I hate Jews call for another holocaust [sic].”
I have chosen not to publish the photo of the graffiti because it is offensive and because of possible emotional reactions it might provoke.
Usually, I find this kind of thing the tasteless humor of a young college student. Although, upon further inspection, I saw that someone had to stand up and pencil it onto the back of the bathhroom stall’s door -— a timely process that gave the culprit ample time to consider his actions.
Was it malice that made this person write this?
In this society, I believe people take for granted that such old hat prejudices have been phased out. Who hasn’t seen the grisly footage of what the Nazi party did to the European Jews in the 1940s?
I feel that this incident proves that some students are detached from this history, and the weight and value of their words.
I hope this person doesn’t realize the message carries the weight of a gruesome past, but I am saddened either way.
In higher education we are encouraged to develop social and cultural understanding and increase our worldview. Associate Professor of Communications David Paterno teaches such values in his class, and was saddened when he found the graffiti, he said.
“I feel that the college has made some decent strides on the issue of diversity since I’ve been there the last nine years,” Paterno said. “I just… anecdotally believe that it still isn’t equal in our community for people who are Jewish.”
Paterno had a feeling earlier this year that students who were celebrating Yom Kippur, felt apologetic about taking off school hours.
“The only holidays that we recognize here are the Christian holidays,” Paterno said, adding that the college has never given off for the Jewish religious holiday.
I don’t blame the college – nor do I think does Paterno for this problem. I think that people have become detached to what happened so many years ago.
Talking about incidents like these will help young students open up a dialog with teachers and peers. That will help them open their minds to the experience of others and avoid making comments that are offensive.
Contact Katy O’Dwyer at
communitarian@mail.dccc.edu
