A Daily Lesson In Differences Minority Students Say Threats, Vandalism Are Most Visible Part Of Pervasive Problem

Racial animosity is dividing the Gonzaga University campus again, and minority students there say they are frustrated by the lack of administration response.

For the third time in a year, black law students received threatening letters seeded with racial slurs.

Other students say they are the objects of vandalism and racial epithets.

Undergraduate student Zaria Banks is angry about the recurring racism. She says she’s impatient with efforts to solve the problem.

“We’ve had meetings and meetings and meetings. … I don’t feel they’ve done anything,” Banks says. “They don’t understand how serious this is.”

But racism and isolation extend beyond the GU campus.

In a region with few minorities, students at other schools feel the same sense of being singled out as different and perceived as getting special help.

At a time when affirmative action programs are under fire, students say misunderstandings about those goals fuel racial tensions.

Conflict first surfaced at Gonzaga on April Fools’ Day last year when four black law students received anonymous letters full of threats and racial slurs. Two of the students transferred to other schools that year.

Letters were again sent to black law students on March 22.

“It’s nerve-wracking, it’s tiring to stay on your guard all the time,” says Coleen Stoudmire, a second-year law student and recipient of hate mail both years. “How do you focus when somebody is threatening you.”

She believes some of her classmates know who is responsible for the letters, but won’t come forward.

Campus administrators say they’re working on solutions.

They formed a task force last summer to work on increasing racial harmony. The group’s findings have not yet been made public. The school also provided minority students with a building where they could meet.

“I think maybe some students and people in the community may figure we’re ignoring the racial incidents, which are very deplorable,” says Gonzaga President Bernard Coughlin. “But we are very concerned and we’re doing what we can.”

Faculty say part of the problem is that Gonzaga and Spokane are too white.

“Unless students can feel there’s a community here they can relate to, why would they come?” says Jeanette Abi-Nader, associate professor of education.

Many students are reluctant to talk about race relations, fearing they’ll be labeled the “whining minority.”

Even those who discuss discrimination on campus say they often are ignored.

“It’s like we’ve been standing behind a soundproof window screaming, and people just keep walking by,” says Gonzaga student Brian Spraggins.

Labels that lie

Students blame backlash from affirmative action for creating suspicion and stereotypes.

Affirmative action was meant to rectify the nation’s past injustices to minorities, but students of color say white people don’t understand the program.

They are frustrated at people who think minorities are on campus only because they get scholarships and extra help not available to white students.

The misconception puts pressure on people like EWU’s Juan Rodriguez.

To some students at EWU, where the majority of the population is white, Rodriguez is a lazy Mexican who gets “free money” to go to school.

The labels go on. And so does Rodriguez.

He graduates this year and plans to get a job in law enforcement. Meanwhile, he volunteers as a reserve officer for the Moses Lake Police Department.

“I want to be a role model, not a stereotype,” says Rodriguez, a Mexican American.

Simona Pruneda, also an EWU student, says the stereotypes make minority students work harder than whites. “You have to prove it to yourself you’re just as good as them.”

Pruneda, a Mexican American freshman, says she often is asked what special scholarships she’s on.

She is taking a full course load and works part-time at the admissions office to help pay her bills. She squeezes in extra hourlong study sessions each day to ensure good grades.

Scholarships for minority students exist. But students say the pool of money is too small to justify the sweeping accusations that they all get their schooling paid.

Financial aid directors won’t say what percentage of minority students get scholarships, fearing those numbers would feed misconceptions.

A U.S. General Accounting Office study two years ago showed that minority-targeted scholarships accounted for only 5 percent of the awards and 4 percent of total scholarship money at undergraduate institutions.

Professional schools, including law and medicine, set aside about 10 percent of their scholarship money for minority students.

“If we’re getting ‘free money’ I wouldn’t be working,” Pruneda says.

A false sense of diversity

The jargon on campuses is “multi-culturalism.” College recruiters point to the gains they’ve made attracting minority students and staff.

The numbers don’t impress many minority students.

“It’s cosmetics,” says Gonzaga student Spraggins, who is African American. “The university wants to look as if it’s really going out and doing something about diversity when really that is not how it is.”

Spraggins says Gonzaga administrators didn’t seriously address racial tensions until the publicity about the incidents on campus.

Rodriguez wants to see diversity campuswide at EWU from the curriculum to the people on campus to the activities and resources available.

He points to the low numbers of faculty and administrators of color at EWU as a major concern. “You can count them on your hands. That’s pretty disgusting.”

EWU administrators recognize the problem and say they aggressively recruit minority faculty, but it’s not easy.

One problem is the small pool of qualified applicants, says Gayle Ogden, executive director of the campus Human Rights Commission.

Although campuses nationwide are trying to recruit more minority faculty, research shows fewer minorities are getting doctorate degrees needed for university positions.

Instead they are entering the workforce before getting an advanced degree.

Schools that successfully recruit minority faculty also find those professors don’t always stick around. That keeps the numbers stagnant at schools like EWU.

Students say multicultural efforts need to spill over into campus resources and courses.

“In the library, there’s barely anything on Asian-Americans,” says Albert Kim, a Washington State University senior.

The Asian Studies student says he relies on professors to order research material for him.

Even gains in student diversity reported by colleges and universities may be misleading.

Students who lie about their ethnic backgrounds on admissions and financial aid forms skew the image of diversity.

“We call them ‘box checkers,”’ says Aaron Thomas, a Native American student at WSU. “They check the box because they think they can get money, even if they’re not the race they say they are.”

Thomas serves as a mentor to incoming Indian freshmen. He has contacted students who claim to be Native American on their applications, but admit to him they are not.

Administrators acknowledge the problem but don’t know what to do.

“There’s no way to check this,” says Donna Thompson, associate director of the Multicultural Center at WSU. “Anything that is based on the honor system has a tendency to be abused.”

Gus Kravas, vice provost for student affairs at WSU, says he hopes essays required for some minority scholarships weed out the cheaters. He says he’s seen students lie on applications, and the school deals with them on a case-by-case basis.

Voices in the crowd

Aaron Thomas showed one white friend at WSU what it’s like to be a minority on campus.

Thomas took him to the Native American Student Center.

“He felt intimidated, and uncomfortable, like everyone was looking at him,” Thomas says. “I told him, ‘This is what we feel every day.”’ Rebecca Miles-Williams, a Native American student at WSU, says she’s tired of people asking her what she is. Often her answer brings an ignorant follow-up question, she says.

“They ask if we still live in tepees,” Miles-Williams says. “It’s amazing they don’t know.”

Juan Garcia found himself the center of attention in a class discussion about migrant Head Start programs.

“Because I was the only Hispanic there, all eyes turned to me,” the EWU sociology major says. “They assume all migrants are in Head Start programs, and that I knew all about it.”

For SCC’s Dianna Bowers, being an Asian American student can be lonely and intimidating.

“When you’re the only one, you feel like you need to do better, like if you make a mistake, it’ll be scrutinized more,” Bowers says.

About a year ago, she was one of two minority students in the school’s nursing program. She remembers sitting in class and looking out at all the white faces.

To cope with the isolation, many minority students seek out each other’s company. In the cafeterias, libraries, and student union buildings, the racial divides are clear.

Many students call it self-segregating.

Ricardo Medina calls it self-supporting.

“It’s la familia,” the EWU student says. “You want to be with people who can identify with you.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 photos (1 color) Graphic: College diversity in the Inland Northwest