Ryan Benjamin | Looking beyond the numbers

Last Sunday's Undergraduate Assembly meeting confirmed that we live in an age in which we must please everyone. And by everyone, I mean "minorities." This week it got so bad that the UA's Working Group on Minorities in Undergraduate Education introduced several proposals to "stand up for these gender and ethnic minorities and say that they are an important part of the University," as volunteer member and Wharton and Nursing sophomore G.J. Melendez-Torres said.

The proposals might have passed easily, but they're still absurd.

Let me say that Penn should do all in its power to advance the causes of anyone on campus who feels ignored by the administration. And any effort to enrich the diversity of the student body, in my book, is extremely worthy. But problems abound when a representative body - like the Nominations and Elections Committee - officializes the appointment of six mis- or underrepresented minorities on the University Council, a broad coalition of campus players that meets monthly to address Penn issues.

Though Melendez-Torres received a standing ovation and the proposals enjoyed broad support, the assumption that the efforts produce a net positive is false.

History professor Alan Charles Kors, a First Amendment champion and key figure in the Water Buffalo incident (wiki it - it's relevant), said that in no way is a seat on UC beneficial for minorities. "It defines free and equal individuals by their blood and ethnicity, which is antithetical to the values of a decent university," he said. "Racial profiling is despicable whether done by police or the UA."

NEC chairwoman and College junior Brittany Stark disagrees, saying that UC is a means for misrepresented groups to be heard. "When a deliberative forum, such as [UC], is making a decision, there should be people present who will not only crusade for these aforementioned causes but will analyze each issue ... that otherwise would have been overlooked by the 'typical' Penn student," she said.

But there is no "typical" Penn student, and if we treat each other only as individuals, and not by our 'groups,' then not a single one of us is underrepresented.

When I asked how many appointments were from minority groups, Stark told me it depends on how I classify a minority, while the NEC's criteria for UC is actually "misrepresented and/or underrepresented student groups." That's a mouthful, and it's also highly subjective.

For example, Jews comprise 30 percent of the student body at Penn, and even though this makes them approximately 60 times more prevalent here than outside Penn, they're still a minority. Hillel had a UC seat in 2005, but not anymore. How do you determine which groups are worthy for even one year, and which can have a permanent seat? What is this, the U.N. Security Council?

One of the working group's proposals calls for the "departmentalization" of the Latin American and Africana Studies programs, which would mean more money and faculty appointments. But the working group fails to recognize the benefits of a program - ability to be more flexible based on student demand.

The authors also want the University to hire more LGBT faculty, similar to those upset that President Obama has not appointed an African American woman to his cabinet. Just as the president has discretion in choosing the best person for the job, Penn, while still inclusive in its hiring practices, must not simply settle for a pleasing statistic.

Over the course of history the world has been shaped by the ability of minorities to organize to advance a better quality of life. African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement joined together to fight to be recognized as equals, just as Kosovar Albanians did to gain independence from Serbia, and as Jews living in Palestine did to form their own state.

Every single organization at Penn, minority or otherwise, adds to the vibrant community we have here. But to advance multicultural interests we need to engage in dialogue, not offer token prizes to seemingly arbitrary groups. This version of advancing minorities feeds into the idea that one group's causes are more important than an individual's. And ironic as it may seem, these efforts to promote the causes of minorities violate the very individualistic principle that makes our country so exceptional.

Ryan Benjamin is a College senior from New Haven, Conn. A Connecticut Yankee appears on Fridays. His email address is benjamin@dailypennsylvanian.com.

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