{"id":137,"date":"2010-04-06T11:59:30","date_gmt":"2010-04-06T16:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ssc.wisc.edu\/~whansen\/?p=137"},"modified":"2011-12-16T12:50:48","modified_gmt":"2011-12-16T17:50:48","slug":"%e2%80%98targeted-minority%e2%80%99-status-hurting-uw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/?p=137","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Targeted minority\u2019 status hurting UW"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 6, 2010
\nThe Badger Herald <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do you keep stigmatizing our \u2018targeted minority\u2019 students? What you write and say makes them feel bad and interferes with their academic achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is what campus administrators often tell me after something I write appears in print (e.g., \u201cUW and dead-end diversity, Badger Herald Nov. 13, 2009; \u201cDiversity initiative more words than actions, Badger Herald Feb. 2, 2010). Why do they say this? I suspect it is because of their annoyance with my long-standing criticisms of\u00a0UW-Madison\u2019s misguided diversity policy. What remains unclear to me is whether \u201ctargeted minority\u201d students actually make such comments or whether administrators are describing what they imagine these students are saying.<\/p>\n

So, what is stigmatization? It reflects, as sociologist Erving Goffman in his classic 1963 book \u201cStigma\u201d tells us, the labeling by the majority of a group it regards as lacking some attribute that would make its members similar and equal to the majority group.<\/p>\n

Here at\u00a0UW-Madison, the process of stigmatization begins by designating certain groups of students \u2014 African Americans, American Indians, Hispanics and South East Asians \u2014 as \u201ctargeted minorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Targeted for what, you ask? For special consideration as determined by the enlightened, well-meaning leaders from the majority group. This means giving \u201ctargeted minority\u201d students preferences in admission, offering them extra tutoring and academic help, and providing them with their own space where they can associate together, e.g., the Multicultural Student Center, and so on.<\/p>\n

Who is doing this stigmatizing? It is campus administrators who apply the \u201ctargeted minority\u201d label to them. It is campus administrators who treat \u201ctargeted minority\u201d students as if all of them need special academic help to become more like majority students.<\/p>\n

What these administrators fail to realize is that this process of stigmatization tarnishes all \u201ctargeted minority\u201d students. It is most damaging to those minority students who do not require any special assistance. They can already compete academically with non-minority students.<\/p>\n

This latter group suffers in still another way. Its members know they don\u2019t need special help. Yet, because it is offered they are reluctant to refuse it. This act could accentuate the stigmatization they already feel and also undermine the academic performance of these students who in the absence of stigma could perform academically at a higher level.<\/p>\n

This stigmatization hardens as non-minority students observe the special treatment afforded \u201ctargeted minority\u201d students. Non-minority students come to realize that some of them also need an extra push and could benefit from the special treatment accorded \u201ctargeted minority\u201d students.<\/p>\n

This evolving process creates awkwardness in interactions between non-minority and \u201ctargeted minority\u201d students. Non-minority students are not certain how to interact with these \u201ctargeted minority\u201d students who are so \u201cdifferent\u201d from themselves and thus viewed as less than equal to themselves. Likewise, \u201ctargeted minority\u201d students feel uncomfortable in their interactions with non-minority students not knowing whether they will be received as \u201cnormal\u201d persons or treated with condescension if not disdain. In short, to use the words of Goffman, \u201ctargeted minority\u201d students are seen by other students as \u201cincomplete persons.\u201d Unfortunately, many \u201ctargeted minority\u201d students come to regard themselves in the same way.<\/p>\n

What is the solution to this long-standing mistreatment of minority students and the identity politics that flows from it? What will not help is the inventive new banner of \u201cinclusive excellence.\u201d This term is the latest effort to camouflage what goes on at this university. It will do nothing to eliminate the stigmatization of minority students.<\/p>\n

The solution is obvious. Eliminate the labeling of African American, American Indian, Hispanic\/Latino, and South East Asian students as \u201ctargeted minorities.\u201d Admit all applicants on a competitive basis, paying attention to their academic preparation and potential rather than their race\/ethnicity, or other characteristics that give an excuse to \u201cprivilege\u201d a \u201ctargeted minority.\u201d Do away with unevaluated academic support and related programs that operated earlier under the name of \u201cdiversity\u201d and now under the name of \u201cinclusive excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short, treat all students as equal human beings; which is what the 1964 civil rights movement sought to achieve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 6, 2010 The Badger Herald \u201cWhy do you keep stigmatizing our \u2018targeted minority\u2019 students? What you write and say makes them feel bad and interferes with their academic achievement.\u201d That is what campus administrators often tell me after something … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=137"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140,"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions\/140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}