Education

White is not right: Campus admins ask for help weeding out white people

Robby Soave Reporter
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Western Washington University sent a questionnaire to students asking them for advice on how the administration could succeed at making sure that in future years, “we are not as white as we are today.”

The question notes that WWU’s racial make up does not perfectly reflect the nation at large, and asks students to consider strategies that other universities have used to focus on skin color as the paramount indicator of a student-applicant’s worth.

The president of WWU has stated that his explicit goal is to reduce the white population on campus, according to Campus Reform.

“I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, that we as a faculty and staff and student body, as an administration, if we 10 years from now are as white as we are today, we will have failed as a university,” said Bruce Shepard, president of WWU, in a 2012 address.

The statements and actions of administrators suggest a preoccupation with skin color at WWU. In his address, Shepard made sure to discuss the racial make up of his new hires.

The university is also putting staff members through diversity and sensitivity training on topics such as “heterosexual privilege,” and “language privilege.” Such sessions were made voluntary after some people complained. (RELATED: University staff members forced to undergo reeducation in ‘heterosexual privilege’)

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