Emerson Brooking | Not a question of diversity, but dedication

Few movements have seen more recent success than our country's march toward greater diversity representation. The past two decades have borne witness to a flood of historic "firsts," culminating in last month's inauguration of President Barack Obama. These landmark achievements have boosted the diversity crusade to new heights, with no sign of stopping soon.

Our own university has played a proud role in this diversification process. Penn enjoys a minority population of over 40 percent and is often a top contender for most racially inclusive school in the Ivy League. We boast a bevy of minority groups, and our minority coalitions exert a strong impact on the collective community. The continuing success of these diversification efforts makes them hard to slight - and even harder to criticize.

But sometimes a little healthy criticism can go a long way. Diversity advocates are fast to lament failings in the level of minority representation, and faster still to push for further diversification in nearly every aspect of student life. The zeal of this movement strains the important boundary between diversity for the sake of fair minority representation and diversity for the sake of the word itself, to the advantage of none involved.

Last Friday, the Nominations and Elections Committee announced an upcoming "diversity workshop" to encourage more minority-driven student leadership. According to College junior and NEC chairwoman Brittany Stark, "in an ever-changing world, the NEC's diversifying mission can never be deemed as complete. We live in a society of 'haves and have-nots,' [and] we should be cognizant that there will always be individuals who feel underrepresented either in terms of race, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, political views, class or cause."

This is certainly true, but is it our job to ensure that every student-government branch and wayward student group embraces carefully apportioned lines of diversity? Just how underrepresented are Penn's current minority concerns --- and why is it assumed that nonminority student representatives make such poor stewards of "diverse" student interests?

Our current minority organizations are far from voiceless. They control six seats on the University Council and exercise ample influence on the entirety of student government. According to College and Wharton senior and Undergraduate Assembly chairman Wilson Tong, "The minority groups in Penn are certainly powerful in themselves, and the minority coalitions possess significant clout on campus with both student leaders and administrators. [Nevertheless] I would argue that these groups place such value in student government because of the institutional capital the six branches enjoy in their official representative capacity of all undergraduates in the University."

It's this broad representational role that suggests that, even with a numerically "diverse" set of delegates, the outcome of most student government deliberations would remain the same. Says Tong, at least in the UA, "This year we've mostly tackled issues that affect all undergraduates fairly equally. Past years have seen agendas that might have been resolved differently had there been more minority involvement in student government . [but] I think it's important to realize that often many minority-group and -student concerns are similar to those of nonminority groups and students."

The most puzzling aspect of this ongoing diversity crusade is the notion that only minority-student representatives can sufficiently promote minority-student interests. This simply doesn't make sense. Good nonminority delegates are neither disinterested nor out of touch with the needs of their minority constituents. Similarly, the mark of a skilled student representative is his or her ability to stand on behalf of the entire student body - not just a narrow subset of minority interests.

As we brace for the frantic petitioning, corny catchphrases and transformed Walk that characterize another year of student elections, this will be an important lesson to bear in mind. Student government may be a balancing act, but it's hardly intended to be a wall of separation. Straight students can advocate for the LGBT Center, and white students can ensure that the Du Bois renovations meet their fall deadline. It's this natural process of cooperation - not obsessively policed columns of by-the-numbers representation - that speaks to a truly diverse campus community.

Emerson Brooking is a College sophomore from Turnerville, Ga. Southern Comfort appears on alternating Wednesdays. His email address is brooking@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.