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UNH isn't that homogenous

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Published: Monday, November 14, 2005

Updated: Sunday, September 6, 2009

Let us dispense with the tired notion that UNH is homogenous because the state itself is "so white." First, New Hampshire really isn't all that white. We have growing and vibrant immigrant communities from Nashua to Newmarket. We have thousands of Native American citizens. All of these people are virtually unrepresented on this flagship campus. Second, universities are by definition selective. They do not passively reflect the region immediately surrounding them; rather, they continually choose individuals who have specific talents, abilities and experiences that will contribute to our main enterprise: the production of new knowledge in which all students, staff and faculty are engaged. In 2005, there are pressing reasons to elevate race in our considerations of diversification. Turn on CNN and be reminded that race is the thing that principally divides us. From New Orleans to Iraq and Paris, it divides us. Especially as it is crisscrossed by class, religion and gender. And it divides us even though it is a historical and biological fiction. Faculty and staff at UNH work very hard to give students critical skills to fight this fiction of race. But a large part of your education also happens outside the classroom. How is that education compromised when you cannot have African-American neighbors who will talk to you about their daily experiences with racism, if you cannot get the perspectives of Arabic speakers on current events, if no

Abenaki friend gently reminds you that Native Americans are still here in New England, if no second-generation Laotian tells you how many hours her parents are working to keep her here? It is time for us to stop throwing up our hands and saying we don't have the resources to attract and retain people of color. Every year many talented students of color transfer to other colleges that offer them full scholarships. Every year, highly qualified people of color say that they would love to work and teach at UNH, but are told there are "no positions available right now." The problem isn't that we don't have the money or a decent Vietnamese restaurant downtown; it's the lack of collective and political will to demand that our community will be different.

Siobhan Senier

Department of English

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