Hello People,
I hope I didn't sound too bitter in my introduction. I also don't wish to scare anyone away from visiting what is one of the few cultural centers we have on campus. In an effort not to alienate an audience or enrage others, I would like to address a few items and re-address others.
First about me, I am a non-Traditional student attending the University of Kentucky in Lexington. As a Sophomore, I have had some time to become familiar with about 60% of the campus and its surrounding areas, I do intend to learn much more. During my time here I have made many acquaintances with many different ethnic representations, and so far my experiences have been wonderful. My shock and amazement is the connection, or lack there of, with my own ethnicity-other African Americans. Now granted, I am older than 80% of the student body, but I don't look or act like an unapproachable older student. My personality is one of accessibility. On top of this, whenever I do divulge my age, I am greeted with exclamations of disbelief simply because of my 'young spirit'.
Now, I would like to tell you about the University of Kentucky.
"Four years after being criticized for doing too little to diversify its campus, the University of Kentucky enrolled a record number of African-American freshmen this year -- and also boosted overall enrollment, according to preliminary figures released yesterday.At UK, African-American enrollment has grown to 1,628 this fall from 1,392 in 2006, an increase due in part to increasing diversity among graduate students.Besides the higher enrollment and growing diversity on campus,Kumble Subbaswamy, UK Provost, noted retention for first-year students also is up, to 81 percent from 74 percent. That improvement comes a little more than a year after UK announced its so-called "War on Attrition," which included increasing academic advising for incoming students and instituting an alert system for students identified as floundering in their first year at the university." courier-journal.com
In conversations with native Kentuckians, I have learned of a deep pride associated with this university, I honestly had no idea how special this place is. I must tell you it is an honor to be a student of this institution of higher learning. It is also very refreshing to know that UK now has a strong commitment to educate minorities.
My question: What should our commitment be to one another? I believe part of the educational experience is learning from those like and unlike yourself. So in my quest to answer these questions, I will solicit participation in the form of fliers and one on one interviews to find out exactly what the actions of the MLKCC are in uniting the student body with those like and unlike themselves. I wonder if we as a culture have moved too far away from the original message of our leaders from the past. In today's society, people seem to be very concerned about conforming and in a lot of cases lose their precious individuality. The things that make us different and unique are points of beauty that should be appreciated, if no where else, in one's own culture. Unfortunately, I feel I am witnessing a separation of sorts with the young people of my culture.
The detachment from 'the struggle' has, in some ways, taken away our sense of unity. Our communities and family structures are different from what they were when the first Blacks attended and graduated from this institution and now so are our mindsets. I say all this because if I could go back in time, which I will soon, I bet you there was a camaraderie between the Black students that just doesn't exist today, and that is why I could have an experience like the one I had the first three times I visited the MLKCC at UK. I was a new face observing what looked to be a tightly-knit group that became a little disappointed when I wasn't even acknowledged. Maybe I was expecting too much of the Director, too much of the students. I believe had my visit taken place back in 1987, I would have been nearly bombarded with information, greeted warmly and given the real sense of message the Martin Luther King Cultural Center was established to convey. I feel sad about the possibility that we have moved so far away from our own community that we no longer acknowledge each other.
In my next update, I will share information I gathered doing interviews and surveys of undergraduate students from a variety of backrounds and ages. Until then, signing off.
And by the way, if you see me in the field, don't be too shy to speak.
Peace
2 comments:
I like your conversational tone here; you have a strong voice on the page (or the screen!) I also like your reflections; you're raising some good questions about community, and especially about how the African-American university community has changed over time. Are you going to get to interview someone who runs the Center? Might you go to the archives to learn about the beginning of the Center, and about the community of African-American students at the time? Could you put UK in context with other US universities in terms of efforts towards diversity and inclusion? Those are all ideas for further exploration. I'm excited to read more! Keep at it.
I really like your information about the African-American enrollment at UK. It is great to hear that UK is making a conscious effort in their quest to educate minorities as well as provide centers/opportunities for them to connect. I feel like students are not doing their part in trying to reach and unite as a student body. People find their cliques and do little to expand their circles or include others in it. Greeks generally stick with other Greeks, athletes with other athletes, etc., which is very cliché high school. Many students are excited to get to college to break these barriers and expand their friend circle but are finding it difficult when they go out of their way to simply feel shut down and ignored (for example what you experienced). You raised a good point that the center was created to unite the student body and now it is simply doing the opposite. Where did this go wrong? Does the MLK Center at UK look at other universities for examples?
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