Last week, first-year students participated in a program on diversity. Entitled "Crossing the Line," the activity situated students on one side of a line that they would cross if in agreement with a statement spoken by the moderator. Relatively few people agreed with the assertion "race is a problem on this campus," while less than half seemed to think that "there are open and honest discussions about race on this campus." Apparently, some people (myself included) thought that although we can’t seem to talk openly about race at Pomona, it’s not a serious problem here.

This contradiction reveals our own insecurities about racial issues on campus. It seems too harsh to say that our beloved college might somehow be permissive of racism. On the other hand, it is too obvious to miss that there is very little dialogue about racial issues on campus other than an ad-nauseum repetition of PC egalitarianism.

Truly baffling is the ritual compartmentalization we seem to undertake when discussing race in general as opposed to specific racialized issues on campus. The best example to date is the lack of a popular response to the tenure case of Assistant Professor of Black Studies and Psychology Stanley Gaines.

Professor Gaines has claimed that he was unfairly denied tenure by Pomona College because he is African-American. The lack of any significant student-organized support for Gaines’ case is important, given the activist tradition at this institution.

It seems that no one is willing to say in public what he or she admits to be true in private. After reading The Student Course Review, I got the impression that Professor Gaines was not a very inspiring instructor. In fact, students rated his classes as only "B-" overall, even though they identified those classes as easy. Comments from former students, centering around not having learned anything, seem to corroborate such an appraisal.

Even if these indicators are false, it seems inconceivable to me that Pomona College could have any motive for such blatant racial discrimination. Our faculty does include a number of professors of color. Hiring information on the college web site specifically states, "Pomona College, an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer, especially encourages applications from women and people of color."

Although it would be naïve to expect that an institution would always abide by its own guidelines, it would be illogical for the college to actively encourage applications from minorities only to deny them tenured positions. One faculty member commented that, "Pomona is not the kind of place where people have an axe to grind. . . He [Gaines] was denied tenure because he couldn’t cut it."

It appears as if that sentiment resembles the majority opinion on this campus, at least given the silence of student organizations regarding Gaines’ case. The issue at stake is not whether Gaines actually was a target of discrimination, but why we feel uncomfortable expressing the view that he was not.

A dialogue about the case at hand creates tension in several important ways: First, the case puts minority faculty in the very sticky situation of having to take sides. This question inevitably implies that these faculty members will be simultaneously used as examples for a lack of discrimination and looked to for support by Professor Gaines. They will be suspect no matter which side they choose. Second, minority students have to be conscious of the fact that their college may have engaged in discriminatory practices. The other possibility, that a professor is using his minority status as a tool for self-promotion, is much too closely related to the very touchy subject of affirmative action. Third, Caucasian students (like myself) who do not believe that Gaines was a victim of discrimination are afraid of being labeled racists for expressing that view.

The lack of discussion about the Gaines case can be seen as a model for many race dialogues on this campus. I contend that our community has some very salient issues with race specifically because it is a topic we do not discuss frankly. Students may tend not to identify race issues as problematic because they very rarely see any overt racism on this campus.

Race, however, is a larger issue than racism; discrimination includes more than overtly racist actions. As much as we may try to pretend that we do not make distinctions based on race, the fact is that we live in a society that does discriminate in that way. By recognizing difference, even if we are unwilling to verbalize that recognition, we are discriminating. It is of the utmost importance that we do not pander to the fiction that our friends at this college do not have any preconceived racial stereotypes.

Willingness to speak out on such controversial issues will ensure that there will be fewer peculiar silences about topics as significant as the Gaines case. Only when students begin to take risks will we be able to have truly open and honest discussions about race on Pomona’s campus.