Student representation, whether through a student government or union, will never be more than the sum of its parts. The organized response of students to the quality and direction of their higher learning institutions will only be as good as the level of participation by their student bodies in the process.

Our own student government (SGA) has struggled for more than a decade with poor organization and inefficiency. Most disappointingly, it has seldom been able to assess the needs of students and bring them to the attention of our institution.

Some of this inefficiency is due to the inherent nature of positions that switch each year, which naturally impacts student leaders’ abilities to plan. I have watched past SGA presidents attempt to capitalize on their limited terms, to mobilize the student body or lead from behind the scenes during their time — I have been one of the latter. In my second and last semester as student body president, I look back on this year and regret the lack of meaningful student participation and our inability to foster such a culture.

But this problem can be cured.

Such a cure requires that multiple steps be taken. We must first realize that our role is not one of government or public authority, but is that of an advocate. Our concern is not with acquiring decision-making authority for students — the evolving climate of higher education alone will demand such student-faculty-institution collaboration for educational institutions to survive.
Instead, learner advocacy processes must be streamlined and student involvement and engagement opportunities must be pursued — we know that students are passionate and that it is our job to provide efficient structures and processes by which those students can make a meaningful difference.

This is why, in the last few weeks, we have hosted multiple talks and have completely restructured student representation. Most of the bureaucracy is gone, and a frame built for flexibility and action has been left in its place. Elections will no longer be about choosing students to fill seats in the process of tallying student opinion, but will be purposed instead toward community selection of student leaders to facilitate student initiatives for the betterment of our learning community.

All we need now is the most vital piece: You.

Diane Cooper said it best in her book, “Multiculturalism on Campus” (2011), “Helping individuals recognize and appreciate their own culture is a first step in allowing them to recognize and appreciate other cultures.” IWU has painted itself into a corner. In the urge to promote diversity it has failed to clearly define it. We could bicker and argue that the Intercultural Student Services Office has a missions statement concerning diversity, but based on the impressions left on the student body in chapel and in hall programming via the position of diversity coordinator, it is clearly limited to racial diversity.

I, Cassin Dyson, am currently studying higher education in pursuit of my master’s at ASU (Arizona State University), a very diverse campus. I can say with great confidence diversity enhances academic stimulation. Diversity allows individuals to look at the world from a different lens than their own. Diversity is so much more than race; it is regional identity, socioeconomic status, culture, gender, sexual identity and so on. Simply put, diversity is any marginalized group.

Newsflash: you can be white and feel marginalized! And I know for a fact individuals on IWU’s campus have at times felt as though the ISS has created a “hostile environment” for them, which does not promote but hinders academic success.

Looking back last year I remember a chapel in which the president of Crossroads Bible College, Dr. Charles Ware, my older brother’s alma mater, was presented the opportunity to speak in chapel. The message was fantastic. However, the head of the ISS, Kyra Pappas, started the chapel by introducing Dr. Ware and then emphatically making the statement, “There is about to be some church up in here.” If you don’t believe me, or recall this incident, go back and look at the recorded video since it is well-known throughout the entire student body that chapel is always recorded.

I don’t know why she would introduce a chapel speaker in such a manner and I would hope that it was not due to the fact that he was black. If my memory serves me right, I do not remember a similar introduction for any previous chapel speaker. If so, then deductive reasoning, or critical thinking, would leave students (specifically non African-American students) to believe that their church is somehow inferior. However, the universal church does not know race, financial status, or gender (Galatians 3:28). This, by legal definition, would be considered a ‘hostile environment’ because it hinders students from growth.

IWU … I entreat you to promote diversity and make programs that promote all types of diversity. There are white students who know they may be part Irish, Dutch, Scottish, English or so on but literally have no concept of what that actually means concerning their personal heritage. There are students struggling to define masculinity and femininity, there are students from broken homes and poverty that struggle to relate with some of the more privileged students on campus, there are students that are struggling through their sexuality, and students from all over the U.S. and the world who have a regional identity that is very different from the Midwest.

Diversity is beautiful. ASU represents the city of Phoenix based on its statistical demographics and promotes diversity in its university’s mission. We can all learn from diversity; however, no one white, black, Asian, Middle Eastern, Hispanic/Latino, straight or gay, rich or poor, male or female and so on should ever feel marginalized. Ask the students on campus and hopefully they will be honest and express the fact that they are not impressed with the current definition of diversity being actualized at IWU.

Also, in order to further promote diversity, the ISS Office should be moved to the first floor of the student center and students should have direct access to the office from the Mallway. By putting it on the second floor and relatively hidden, it leaves the impression that diversity is an afterthought on campus. If it were on the first floor of the student center, it would receive more foot traffic and better be able to advertise its events. I agree with the vision and mission of diversity on IWU’s campus just not with its actualization.

I will be the first to admit that I am still growing in my understanding of diversity and always will. I will be the first to admit I have said insensitive things and shouldn’t have. For any I have ever offended, I am sorry and sincerely apologize.

Sincerely,
Concerned Alumnus

(Editor’s note: Dyson was originally described as “alumna.” The Sojourn regrets the error.)

I’m an IWU student, a lot like you. I eat at Wildcat with you, drink McConn with you, go to chapel with you and go to class with you. We’re alike in nearly every meaningful way. But there’s one way we’re different: I struggle with same-sex attraction.

As someone who has identified as part of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, questioning) community in the past, I wanted to share with you insights on what I feel each and every day on this campus.

First, let me establish some things. I accept that Scripture and the tradition of the Wesleyan Church, of which our university is a part, view homosexual practice (not attraction) as sinful. I acknowledge this, and live as such. Not everyone in the Christian LGBTQ community would agree with my beliefs, but they are what they are. I’m in a very happy, healthy, heterosexual relationship with someone I love.

Yet despite the fact that I have chosen to live free of same-sex behavior, our campus at times still feels like a place unwelcoming to me. The Wesleyan Church believes that it is the church’s responsibility “to bring about the possession of dignity and happiness by all people everywhere.” One would be hard-pressed to say that all people are treated with dignity on our campus.

There are a mere handful of people on this campus I have ever dared to share my story with. Some of the people in my life that I consider my best friends had never heard my story until I decided to write this letter. Why? Because I felt that if I did tell them the story, they’d treat me differently. The love and affection they show me now would be gone because of their fear.

Students who struggle with homosexuality, myself included, feel they have no safe place on our campus. They feel they cannot go to friends, RAs, RDs, hall chaplains or others for fear of reprisal and rejection. Regardless of the official policy of any of these persons or organizations, the fear is real and legitimate.

The university is far from doing anything to alleviate the issue, either. They venerate individuals like Kirk Cameron and James Dobson who make LGBTQ individuals feel hated and rejected. They invite speakers to chapel who speak of a simple binary form of gender identity, failing to recognize the spectrum of gender commonly accepted by even Christian sociologists, leaving those who don’t fit those molds out in the cold. Students and staff alike make stereotypical jokes about LGBTQ persons with little thought.

Is this the community Christ called us to? Is this the Church? A place where a significant percentage of our community feel they have to put on a façade for fear of rejection? Certainly not!

The time for silence is over. Pretending like the issue doesn’t exist won’t make it better. That’s why I chose to speak out. I exhort the students, faculty, staff and administrators of this university: Speak up. Follow the pattern of our Christian brothers and sisters at Wheaton College and the University of Notre Dame in establishing resources for LGBTQ students. Establish a LGBTQ staff ally, a “safe place” for students like myself to open up about their struggles, and have a wise guide through the process. Establish a university-wide standard on bullying and non-inclusive language to forbid the kind of intimidation and “humor” that keeps so many of our brothers and sisters hidden.

Covering our eyes and ears to the realities of our culture will do nothing but cause suffering and pain. We must become a community of openness. That which is not revealed cannot be healed.

The Sojourn, students, staff, faculty and administration at Indiana Wesleyan University,

I was one of three upperclassmen who worked to initiate positive change for the international and community development program.

I write to represent the absent voices of the students who provided “input,” as emphasized, in last week’s original and edited article, “IWU to revise ICD major.”

The article accurately outlined some events that led to the program’s current evaluation and revision. (We prepared, met, discussed and met again with assurance of change. We were not involved in anything that followed, such as interviews and reviews and are not likely to be involved in the future.) But without interviewing myself, other concerned students or those who initiated revision above program level, information and opinions were published that did not allow the reader to come to an unbiased conclusion.

I hope to clarify as you contemplate our efforts, the accusations directly and indirectly made against us and the nature of institutional change.

Mark Brand (sr), Zach Meerkreebs (alumnus ‘12) and I became dissatisfied with the program in our final years at IWU. Our life callings and career objectives were diverse, yet the program and our frustrations with it unified us. We witnessed similar frustrations among our peers and knew we had to do something.

So, community development style, we met in the fall of 2011, carefully and prayerfully composed an email to Dr. Darlene Bressler, met with her and Dr. Karen Hoffman on Nov. 30, and at Dr. Bressler’s request, met again with her, Dr. Hoffman, Dr. Keith Springer and Dr. Norm Wilson on Feb. 23, 2012. Of note, we went to each meeting with current and former ICD students’ support; dozens sent written testimonials as contribution.

We presented three points:

The program is too broad and lacks focus. Under the title “international and community development,” students study international, community, economic and church-based forms of development. They find themselves in courses that emphasize one form over others. All other classes are sporadically related, though sometimes seemingly arbitrary.

The program lacks academic rigor, especially in comparison to the other highly respected programs in the School of Theology and Ministry. (Interestingly, we later learned intercultural Studies was reviewed by the Higher Learning Commission, but ICD as a subprogram of IS was not.)

With one faculty resource, the program lacks diversity of resources, thought, expertise, methodology and guidance. This category has implications I will not go into here.

These points were presented in light of the program’s high cost. ICD requires unpaid weekend conferences and a summer term abroad (an emphasis on international development some do not desire). Our enduring question was, “Do the benefits outweigh the costs?” We were afraid the answer was, “No.”

It is unnecessary to address in length the accusations directly and indirectly made against us. To imply we destroyed, polluted, created problems or underperformed and demanded more than what we deserved, is far from accurate, and I hope this point is evident and contested by those who taught and worked with us.

As stated, many students dropped the program for others more fitting of their life callings and career objectives. Some did this with counsel from other program advisers and us.

We are so sorry some of the cost of change has fallen on our friends and peers. We constantly pray for leadership at IWU and are thankful they are working hard on this issue. Dr. Dave Ward, the associate dean of the School of Theology and Ministry, has assured us this is his highest priority and change will happen faster than initially projected.

Please contact me with questions, comments or concerns,

Bethany Ezawa Kinch (alumna ‘12)
bethany.ezawa@gmail.com

Mark Brand and Zach Meerkreebs’ names were used with permission.