i'm not really sure where all this is going anymore...since this first 
letter, i've recieved almost 10 messages a day...some relevant, others 
seem more like personal attacks on people, but i am going to try to react 
to what i read....

On Sun, 19 Nov 1995, Bill Bishop wrote:

> The leadership of the Commission on Racial Justice has made statements and
> demands that are impossible for most of us to accept.  All whites are
> privileged.  UVM is a racist institution.  

All whites ARE privileged.... i don't why this is impossible to accept, 
but i will give you a few examples.... what color are band-aids that are 
supposed to blend with your skin, when you look at women's nylons..whose 
NUDE skin color are the manufacturers refering to? and when you reflect 
back to the maps of the world that you were brought up looking at, what 
continents were bigger than others...i don't know about you, but the maps 
i saw portrayed the countries that were predominately white as bigger 
than those that were predominately people of color (by U.S. definition)
....to my understanding..this is not an accurate portrayal of the world.

....UVM is a racist institution.... it is... most of us grew up in the 
US and therefore grew up with racism all around us... to think that UVM 
as an institution was able to escape the racism is absurd...look at who 
our founding father was.

i think that these are 2 things that aren't going to go away, but what 
needs to happen is a better understanding of what this means....what does 
it mean to have white privillage?  how are we a racist institution.. i 
think that if we learn more about these statements and accept what they 
mean, we can try to better ourselves, in turn bettering the institution, 
but by refusing too accept those statements..it is difficult to move on.

> 
> The Commission on Racial Justice wanted complete autonomy to define the 
> Executive Officer's position, define the reporting structure of this 
> position (to themselves), and almost total control over the functioning 
> of the Office of Multicultural Affairs.  Everyone, including the 
> President, has people above them who in some way limit their freedom.  
> This is a function of a hierarchy and serves as a method of assuring 
> order and control.  It is not a perfect system , and is often 
> frustrating, but it is common to virtually every department, group, or 
> organization at UVM.  Sometimes you just have to work within the system 
> in which you find yourself and try to change it from within.  One way to 
> do this is to recognize progress (however small), compromise, and accept 
> that people may share goals, but disagree about the methods to achieve 
> these goals.  I dont recall hearing much in the way of affirmation, 
> willingness to compromise, or tolerance that it is possible to disagree 
> about methods from the recently dissolved Commission.


i don't know about the ex-commission wanting 'almost total control over 
the functioning of OMA'.....this was the first time i really heard 
that...but i would like to comment on some of the other things mentioned 
above.  in any hierarchial system there is someone for everyone to answer 
to. from the sga senate meeting last tues, it sounded like the commission 
wanted the executive officer to be accountable to them because they felt 
as if no one is accountable to them....and whenthis new position was 
being created, they thought it was being created for them (stop me when 
i'm wrong) to better the race relations on campus....but how could this 
position work to better the race relations on campus when the executive 
officer does not have any accountability to the commision on racial 
justice and equality. (this makes sense to me) also att he senate 
meeting, i heard frustration because voices weren't being heard.... the 
students had tried many times to give their opinion, but over and over 
they felt that their opinion wasn't even considered, instead they just 
served as tokens so provost low (?) could say he asked the people of 
color on campus...so they DID try to work within the system (to the best 
of my understanding) but it didn't work.... how long should a group of 
people stay silenced? it sounds to me like they tried, it didn't work, 
and now they are going to go at an issue in a different way

> On Friday, I am told that a group of twenty-five prospective ALANA 
> students was confronted by a group of people who informed them that UVM 
> is a bad place for people of color.  They were told of the Commission's 
> withdrawal from the search for the Executive Officer of Diversity.  They 
> were told of the dissolution of the Commission on Racial Justice.  

as a tour guide, i sometimes struggle with how i should present the 
university when questions of diversity come up.....if the above happens 
often, i'm sure we will not see the increase in multi-racial 
admissions applications that was demanded by the SGA senate and members 
of OMA (late last semester and early this semester meetings with the 
admissions office)


> My understanding is that this group was composed of leaders of the ALANA
> community who successfully advocated that the Student Government
> Association not participate in the search for the new Executive Officer
> for Diversity.  How is this action helpful in the long term effort to
> promote diversity at UVM?  
>

you are correct.  the reason we, the senate, chose not to participate in 
the search was because we felt it was our duty to represent the students 
who came to us for support, after all, that is why we were elected.  
these students felt as though their (or our) participation on the search 
as it stood on tues, would only be tokens...and if it backfires we, the 
students, would be the scapegoats... "well, so-and-so-student had a say in 
this too, go talk to her/him, don't blame me"  i think we did the right 
thing.  i think that sometimes student leaders need to unite and take a 
stand together...by not participating in the search, i think we are 
saying that we believe there should be more student imput....that we 
won't stand to just be tokens...we want to be listened to AND HEARD..and 
we want our opinion to matter... we don't want to serve as token 
students, we want to matter...and the way that it is now, we don't feel 
like we (students) are taken seriously.  (this is my opinion and does not 
necessarily reflect the opinions of all or any other senators) 



> However, this kind of activity undermines the
> efforts to make UVM a more diverse, and intellectually stimulating
> university. 

agreed

> In most ways, UVM is a great place to study, work, and teach. 

for who? if there is strain on a person's mental and emotional state 
(constant discrimination....constantly being a token...representing all 
of one's race, sex, religion etc) how can one concentrate on working or 
studying?




---sorry for the long message.... happy thanksgiving!
peace
kristin