Ozzie Harris, associate director of equal opportunity and affirmative action, spoke to students at a dinner and discussion Thursday night about the difficulties he faced as a mixed-race student at Dartmouth in the late 1970s and how the experience led him to shatter the stereotypes he held.
The speech, "Striving to Live a Multicultural Life," was attended by approximately 175 Dartmouth students and 24 faculty members in Collis Common Ground.
The dinner and discussion were held in response to a suggestion made by Dean of the College Lee Pelton at the town meeting on Feb. 1, to set aside time during Winter Carnival, for the community to discuss and to reflect on the recent incidents of hate speech.
Last month two Asian-American men in Little Hall and two Asian-American women living off-campus found racial slurs written on the doors of their residences.
Harris, a member of the Class of 1981, told students, "Back then, people talked about integration, but not diversity. People of color were expected to fit in at the College," he said. "There was no talk about celebrating cultures or other people."
"It became clear to me that people were going to hold my race to me and this did not seem like 'higher' education," Harris said.
Harris noted the difference between his time at the College as a student and the present.
"There is more diversity here at Dartmouth now than when I was here," he said. "There is an ongoing struggle to achieve community."
Harris also said learning to accept diversity is a life long process.
"It is one of the most valuable lessons that one could learn at Dartmouth," he said.
"It was encouraging to see so many students, faculty and members of the community at the town meeting and to see that many students found the incidents objectionable," Harris said. "I was impressed with that people were pulling together at the rally and expressing their concerns."
Harris offered two ideas for people to understand diversity and to improve a community.
"The first is that we have to define ground rules for interacting with each other," he said. "For example, we have to give each other time to speak and there should be no physical contact when we are having difficult discussions with each other."
"The second is to take uncharacteristic risks by joining and participating in activities we usually avoid," he added.
"We have to push ourselves and attend events if we are slightly interested," he said. "Take classes that sound interesting. Do things and take a risk. Try to expand and push beyond yourself past your boundaries."
"Imagine a community as a pile of lumber, nails, and other building materials, on the Green, a wonderful building sitting in the sun, and let's call it a community building," he said.
"We see that no one wants to get their hands dirty to build the community. We see a few people working there and we wave to them and we warm our hands by their fire," he said. "We may give them a compliment, but are we working? What am I doing and what am I willing to commit?"
"I am interesting in having a community that is more than tolerant," he said. "We need to be honest and caring and passionate."
The Winter term has always been a term of discontent, Harris said. "A lot of incidents happen. Some of them turned out to be positive and I hope this one will be too."
After Harris spoke, discussions took place among the students and faculty in small groups.
Students were randomly seated in small groups with a faculty member residing at each table.
Kristin Brenneman '97 said there should be more events, like the dinner and discussion, where students can meet people they would not normally interact with.
Jung Yeon Son '97 said it was too bad it took so many unfortunate incidents before the dinner was held.
After the discussion, the attendants were asked to write their thoughts suggestions on what should be done to continue the momentum of change.
Among the suggestions were a few that called for a required course or discussion group on diversity for undergraduate students at the College.
Other suggestions urged people to be more tolerant and open-minded.
"Love. Respect. Make Dartmouth a community I can be proud of," one person wrote.
According to Ruth Morgan, co-chair of the Programming Board, which organized the dinner, the suggestions will be reviewed by College President James Freedman, Pelton and Dean of Faculty, James Wright .
"We have thought about having other events like this one," Morgan said, "We have a Student Development Lecture Series that deal with issues that affect students."
Last term, the Programming Board invited Boston Chief of Police Bill Johnson to discuss hate crimes, she said. However, the discussion was not well attended.
"Students pay attention if a topic is relevant and things are going on around campus. This is very relevant," Morgan said. "We try to keep our fingers on the pulse of the students."
