Re Will Keep Gu On Right Track

When an American Indian makes a vision quest, he steps out of the known and into the unknown.

This quest requires suffering and uncertainty, but it leads to profound transformation - exactly the process Raymond Reyes hopes to create at Gonzaga University. As GU’s first associate academic vice president for diversity, Reyes intends to change the campus environment to attract and support more faculty and students of color.

The university is to be congratulated for creating this position. During a time when administrators must cut $1.5 million from their budget, the decision to postpone this appointment might have been easily justified.

But Gonzaga, still healing from a series of racist incidents at its law school, continues to take step after step to change not only its public image but also its reality. Fortunately, it is led by the Jesuit mission itself, which calls for service and social justice.

Last winter GU created a new Institute for Action Against Hate, an academic center for the scholarly investigation of hate and hate crimes. This new center has the potential of transforming embarrassment into moral leadership.

Now GU has given Reyes, a popular professor of American Indian and Mexican ancestry, a position where he can help shape policy. Reyes believes that all people at Gonzaga will be enhanced and strengthened by the opportunity to live with others who are different from them in culture, race, gender, religion and sexual orientation. His favorite bumper sticker says, “Life is a metaphor for group therapy.” It is from the person who confounds us most that we have the most to gain.

When an Indian descends the mountain after his vision quest, he is met by his singing relatives, eager to help him live out his internal changes through external action.

The challenge to the Gonzaga community will be to greet the innovations Reyes’ new position will bring with that same enthusiasm and support. In that way, this internal administrative change will be made real in an energetic and rich new university life.