A coalition of multicultural-awareness groups and state Rep. Gerry Pollet, vice-chair of the House Higher Education Committee, today offered praise for Western Washington University President Bruce Shepard’s recent call to diversify his school’s student-population. Pollet and the organizations are urging a public show of unity against the “disgusting intolerance of those displaying or supporting messages on a public campus such as ‘diversity = white genocide.'”
Pollet said the broad coalition of organizations that work to increase access and equity through the ladder of education, from preschool through graduate school, “is proud to stand with President Shepard, students, and the greater community of the state of Washington who want to ensure that every student can get a college degree.”
Karen Strickland, president of the American Federation of Teachers Washington, said that Shepard “is courageously calling attention to the fact that educational institutions, from early learning through higher education, continue to struggle in reclaiming the promise of public education for all of our communities. From access, to affordability, to disparate treatment, to adequate student-success supports, to graduation — we must acknowledge the obstacles students and families of color face and work aggressively and collaboratively to remove them.”
“We support President Shepard in his effort to build an institution of higher learning accessible to all Washington residents,” said Peter Bloch Garcia, the most recent former president of the Latino Community Fund of Washington. “As a graduate of WWU, I recognize that President Shepard states the simple truth about the current and longstanding reality for students from historically underrepresented communities. Acknowledging the facts, as President Shepard has, is a step toward closing the opportunity gap.”
Organizations that advocate for access to education joined other stakeholders and Pollet is applauding Shepard for addressing the issue head-on.
“As our state of Washington becomes more diverse, we must work harder to ensure that every resident has access to opportunities and dreams offered by attending our state’s higher education institutions,” said Pollet. “I applaud President Shepard’s recognition of this mission, and his recognition that, as he said, a public educational institution fails if it does not serve all segments of our state and does not provide every student with the important opportunity to learn in classrooms that reflect our full diversity.
“Every public official in Washington should unite to reject the disgusting racial response to planning for a public institution to reflect our state’s diversity,” said Pollet, in response to Republican state Rep. Jason Overstreet’s recent news release* which includes a link to an organization that called Shepard’s comments “Caucasian cleansing.”
Signs have been put up on the WWU campus saying that “Diversity = White Genocide.”
Rich Stolz, Executive Director of OneAmerica, emphasized that “rather than listening to the content of President Shepard’s statements, too many are seeking to sensationalize and profit from words taken out of context. President Shepard raises an important question: Do Washington state’s institutions of higher education have a responsibility to reflect as best they can all of the communities of Washington state? That he answers this question with a principled “Yes” can bring hope to many young Washingtonians who have too long believed that a degree in higher education was somehow not intended for them.”
Pollet and the groups support President Shepard’s statements in a recent Bellingham Herald article: “These are challenges being faced by universities across the country. We’ve had this conversation in polite and euphemistic terms for decades, with some progress, but not at the pace that is required if we’re going to be successful as a state and as a nation.”
The Seattle legislator also pointed out that “our state’s population is growing much more diverse. It’s highly appropriate that we increase our outreach to students of color, disadvantaged backgrounds, and everyone else if we expect to meet goals for the amount of four-year degrees essential in our 21st-century economy.”
“The Equity in Education Coalition will always applaud a sincere, honest, and open dialogue around diversity of the student population in the institutions of higher education of Washington state,” said Sharonne Navas, Executive Director of the Equity in Education Coalition. “It is imperative that not only do our students of color have the opportunity and access to enter and achieve at our colleges and universities, but that our teaching staff should also reflect the diversity in race and culture of our state.
“WWU, as well as any institution of higher education in our state, needs to be relevant and to have the ability to adequately prepare students for the real world,” Navas added. “That means it must embrace diversity and ensure that its student population, which is currently majority white, diversifies across-the-board, including students, faculty, staff, and administration. We applaud the university’s president for stating the obvious, and for choosing not to go along with the status quo that does a disservice to all current and future students of WWU.”
Legislation was passed this past legislative session to implement a goal set forth by the Washington Student Achievement Council: At least 70 percent of Washington adults ages 25 to 44 should earn a certificate or degree from a community or four-year college by the year 2023.
“In an increasingly diverse state, we cannot meet this important goal unless our public higher education institutions become much more diverse,” said Pollet.