UW-Madison's fa??ade of an accepting and diverse environment cracked last month when an American Indian left the university after a bottle was thrown at his head.
Kyle Aragon, an 18-year-old freshman from New Mexico, was walking home on University Avenue in mid-March when a group of men at a bar yelled, \My sister didn't get into college because of you,"" and accosted him for the Ho-Chunk Nation's attempt to build a casino in Madison, according to Casey Brown, the co-chair of the Coalition of Native American Students. One of the men threw a bottle at Aragon, which resulted in stitches above his eye.
The combination of someone calling him ""chief"" the next weekend and his parents seeing the gruesome photos of his attack, Aragon, an Acoma Pueblo Indian, decided enough was enough. The result was the UW-Madison lost one more minority student, which left the campus with 152 American Indians out of more than 41,000 students. As news of the hate crime against Aragon spreads throughout the American Indian community, the university is likely to have trouble recruiting new American Indians.
The university is more than willing to take pictures of pow-wows and ""authentic""-looking American Indians to send to alumni and prospective students to prove that UW-Madison has a diverse environment, but a student is likely to learn otherwise once he reaches campus and is confronted by its cold environment. If the university wants more diversity, it has to create a welcoming atmosphere first.
Lumping American Indians with other minorities does not work because, according to Brown, ""Under the banner of multiculturalism, Indians largely get left behind.""
The university does not give American Indian organizations on campus the right resources to create a more welcoming environment. Brown said most American Indians need more than an organization with agendas and meetings to feel comfortable. One suggestion was creating an ""Indian House,"" where students could hang out. An ""Indian House"" is especially important for incoming students from reservations because it could serve as an area for transition. Brown said reservation Indians encounter a ""totally different world,"" when they come to Madison, and ""it would be a lot easier if there is a community base right there.""
Perhaps the university could allocate some funds to this goal. Claims that an ""Indian House"" would be divisive are easily refutable-if the university wants a diverse environment, it must get students here first. Divisiveness is impossible in a homogenous society.
Those that say American Indians receive preferential treatment, such as scholarships, are narrow-minded. After more than 500 years of abuse from the American government, it can be expected that many American Indians are in a disadvantaged situation. Brown described his uncles who lived in tar sheet houses 20 years ago, where ""when it would be windy outside, it would be windy inside."" Education is the only way to a better situation, and the government owes both gratitude for the land (the UW-Madison campus is dotted with burial mounds) and an apology for the abuse to the American Indian population.
??Most of all, change in the environment must come from every student and citizen in Madison. People must realize their common humanity-everyone eats, sleeps and wants to be happy. Any attempt to disturb someone else's right to a healthy and comfortable environment is selfish and irresponsible because it hurts the entire community. For those who still do not see the benefit of diversity, let it be warned that companies such as Proctor & Gamble report that they will not hire students from ""culturally incompetent"" universities.
Hate crimes such as the one committed against Aragon prove that political correctness is not the primary way to end racism-Madison needs to educate its populace and lend a helping hand to its neighbors.
