Sharon B. Stringer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Comm. Media
Lock Haven University
603 Robinson Bldg.
Lock Haven, PA 17745
570-484-2092
570-484-2436 (fax)
Please
just delete if you are not interested. Thanks – E-K.
D.
From
Diverse Online
Current
News
Perspectives:
Using White Privilege To Rank Black Colleges
By Walter
Kimbrough
Oct 14, 2007, 19:36
Just over a month ago,
days after U.S. News & World Report
released the “
I had
crunched the numbers, comparing top-tier versus bottom-tier schools for national
universities, national liberal arts schools, Southern master’s and Southern
baccalaureate colleges and universities. I used the South since that is where we
find most HBCUs. I went armed to ask Mr. Kelly why his methodology promotes
discrimination against groups which make up a significant portion of
When recognized, I
asked:
The top half of the top-tier national schools have one-third the
total of low income students, one-fifth the total of Black students, and
one-tenth the total of non-traditional students of bottom tier schools. Since
Black, poor and non-traditional students generally have lower SAT scores, are
retained and graduate at lower levels than White, affluent and traditional
students, aren’t you rewarding those, with few exceptions, that enroll a minimum
number of students from these groups while penalizing those of us who serve
these students?
He seemed to have never considered that fact. So he
rambled for about five minutes, rarely looking directly at me. A number of
people chuckled as they commented to me afterwards, “He didn’t answer your
question.” He weakly ended his “answer” by saying that the rankings don’t try to
drive behavior, and that what I described were “societal issues” for which they
have no responsibility.
He did, however, articulate what U.S. News values: wealth and exclusivity.
When challenged by a
Kelly’s
position is an example of White privilege. This mindset purports that
institutions, organizations, and even people who are not of certain backgrounds,
attributes, influence and wealth, can be ignored and dismissed.
Unless,
of course, there is a way to profit from the have-nots.
Therefore,
U.S. News now decides to apply
this mindset to rank Black colleges. The magazine took the exact same
categories, using the exact same point system, to now sell a magazine that
purports to tell the reader which Black colleges are the best. They asked Black
college administrators to provide the peer assessment, but only 38 percent
responded. So 25 percent of the score was determined by 93 somewhat informed
people.
White
privilege allows Kelly to completely ignore the unique nature of HBCUs, their
mission, history and challenges, and simply impose his money, power and respect
methodology on them. I am willing to bet none of the parties who developed this
ranking system have any scholarly, theoretical or practical understanding of the
Black college experience. Again, privilege doesn’t require the magazine to take
this into account. It is inconsequential.
While in
That
didn’t matter. They just dumped all the Black schools together. They’re all the
same.
Black
colleges are competitive, maybe even more so than other institutions. We brag
about our teams, our bands, even our queens. We all want to be the best, even if
in our own minds. And while a ranking might be fine, Brian Kelly and U.S. News have no business applying their
privileged notions of quality on institutions for which they have no knowledge
on or appreciation for.
The Black
college experience is more complex than what their current metrics evaluate.
They can’t measure the level of social consciousness on our campuses, places
that birthed the Civil Rights movement and its leaders. Even recently, as
thousands marched in
With an
ambitious student body grounded as advocates for social justice attending a very
progressive college, being validated by privilege is not on our
agenda.
Justice
is.
Dr.
Walter Kimbrough is president of
There are
currently 3 comments on
this story.
Click here to
post a comment
©
Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
We sometimes have problems
with our server rejecting incoming email. If your reply to this email is
returned to you, PLEASE call me at the number below.
Apologies...We are working on it. Sincerely,
Rev. Dr. E-K. Daufin,
Professor
Department of
Communications
334.229.6885
Thank you in advance for
your
Scholarly & Creative
Activity Referrals -
Lectures, Performances,
Workshops, Consultation Related Info: http://home.earthlink.net/~ekdaufin/