IT’S ONLY LOGICAL | The Tragedy of Diversity

On its diversity and inclusion webpage, our ever enlightened university boldly regards itself as “a place where intercultural skills are developed and enacted among diverse campus constituencies”.  Cornell bumptiously claims that more than 39 percent of undergraduates identify as students of color, and each year the admissions office touts “the most diverse class to date”. Yet the stark reality stands in opposition to the propagandized malarkey that is smeared across administrative outlets. Student life at Cornell remains largely segregated. Under the guise of special interests and cultural celebration, cowardice for sake of comfort has been condoned. White institutions continue to maintain their ideological homogeneity through prohibitive practices whilst disenfranchised minority groups have succumbed to apathy. In this apathy students of color have chosen to find solace in their own communities, which have become a place of healing, a place of reaffirmation. A place where discriminatory beliefs that have long existed in their own respective cultures are continually reinvigorated, weakening their ability to empathize and engage in multilateral action. But the greatest tragedy of this narrative is that we, Cornell as a community, are fine with this development. What does it matter that our student body is partitioned by ethnic or racial lines, so long as everyone has a home in which they feel comfortable? Was the dream of diversity so divided?

Samuel is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He has an insatiable love of alliteration and spends most of his time studying physics or math. It’s Only Logical appears on Tuesdays this semester. He can be reached at [email protected].