1998 Contest Poster and Entry Form
1998 Contest Winners
First Place, 1998
Author: Carmen Patrick
We have run headlong into the unforgiving, insurmountable brick wall called Racism...and our fragile conceptions of acceptance for variance have shattered. the sound is worse than that of a wounded animal whose pain rings hollow in a lonely chasm. The chasm echoes, "R-A-C-E," in that eerie way that raises the hair on the back of our necks and gives us goose bumps on our arms. Here lies the last of the peace challenge - the color line. Where and when did the permanent marker come down from heaven to draw this obstacle in cement before our eyes?
Now, determined in these last years of the twentieth century, we take out our chisels and begin to chip at our iron cages from any angle available. We strive to pretend that race does not matter. Hiding behind twenty years of affirmative action, we see only "improvements" along the racial borders, and we deny the abundance of statistics proving us to be cowards. Our chisels have become blunt, useless tools and yet, we've made no dent in this mountain. Discouraged, we wonder why race should matter so much more than any of those other differences observed between us all. We wonder why the other differences were so much more easily overcome. Floundering with explanations, we see only that race matters. It matters.
Global villagers, what should we do? If race is still a problem in our community, have we truly resolved the issues concerning our other differences such as: gender, religion, or education differences? we must not lose our optimism and faith that the people of this land - all of the people within this land, can live in harmony here.
On the university of Maryland campus, we surely have a diverse student body. However, if one observes for only minutes, she notices something. Each ethnic group has created a small comfort zone for itself which is separated from the rest of the student body. The profound effect of this separation can be seen in any eatery on campus. throwing ethnic, groups together, or trying to mix them up in any social, political, or educational setting has resulted in a rapid re-assembly of the oil-water Maryland campus composition.
My thoughts drift back to the hurt animal crying in that lonely canyon. It is truly lonely out here where I am. As part of my search for true diversity within the global village, I have moved beyond my sphere of comfort into the void between our different groups. I have little company, and I am more alone than ever I thought possible. While sitting in my own sphere of comfort, I accomplished nothing; therefore, my goal must be reached from within The Void. Loneliness is mine to endure.
If ever there was a goal worth achieving in all of human history, mine is. My goal is to help form links between these little pools of potential wealth on campus. Knowledge of each group's experience is the potential wealth of which I speak. This kind of wealth is unique because unlike money which one must save to create, one must share this kind of wealth to increase its abundance. Pools of potential wealth will remain potential wealth until a communications network, like the one I envision, has been established. If only we as a community could move past fear and misunderstanding, construction on the network could begin.
This is the first message which I would like to send through the links from sphere to sphere: Color, my friends, cannot be removed from our perceptions. Color is a permanent fixture of our lives, and what a blessing the permanence of color is. Very literally, a world without race would be colorless. The world would be colorless in the worst ways - lacking dynamics, lacking vibrancy. In a colorless world, even the sky would seem dismal and stale. We would live in endless winter days of stagnant gray and the heat of the sun would not penetrate the clouds of ignorance.
My ideal of a global village comes into view as a world where the hues of color overflow in purple skies, silver rain, and rainbow-ed people. colors of a global village threaten to overwhelm the senses. the global villagers take pride in beautiful distinctions which make the population's individuals unique. the global villagers realize that just as an ecosystem containing the most different species of animals and plants is considered healthiest by the ecologist, so it is that the village containing the most diverse villagers is considered healthiest by the power(s) which made Earth. Sharing our wealth will make us all stronger because diversity breeds strength.
The global villager has the following attributes: curiosity, patience, and compassion. Curiosity allows movement past the fear of the sphere's boundary into the void where differences can be made. Patience slows the formulation of criticism which clouds judgment and unfairly scorns. Compassion facilitates the ability to understand characteristics of people which make us so similiar and yet so different. The establishment of peace and harmony within the community depends on the global villagers' ability to use the attributes mentioned above to focus a diverse spectrum of experiences into one resolved yet colorful image. From within The Void, I shine the beam of my own uniqueness as a beacon. I summon all global villagers to this common cause: communication between spheres so that wealth can be shared, ignorance and fear can be banished, and strength in understanding can be obtained. With a network between the spheres, a true global village can be fortified on Maryland's campus.
Someone has comforted the animal in the chasm. The chasm doesn't seem so lonely anymore. And neither does The Void.
Second Place, 1998
Author: Patricia York
I'm not your average student. I wasn't raised in a generation, or a family, where everyone was accepted regardless of their race, class or sex.. There was a "cut-down" that could be applied to practically anyone who seemed different. Epithets were rampant. Race riots were common, even in the schools. I heard my father once talking about loading his shotgun and having it ready in case "they" appeared on our street during riots, closer to our neighborhood than usual. The hate was thick. It struck profound fear in me for no reason other than its existence. As I grew older, I resisted such hate. It became apparent to me that hate grew out of unfounded fear caused by the ignorance of the curiosity is what saved me. I've always enjoyed anything or anyone, who is different. The more I felt and listened to hatred, the more compelled I felt to explore. The more determined I became to find out what was so threatening. As a mother of four, I have been resolute in my desire to teach my children about the beauty found in diversity. Little did I realize, that as a returning student at the College Park Campus, not only would I expand my mind, I'd also have the world brought to me. I've discovered that the "Global Village" is available to everyone here, with the slightest amount of effort.
Sitting in classes during first day introductions, is a good starting point to discover how close the world is to mine. It's not just that students are from across town, or across the country. Many are from across the world: Hong Kong, India, Iran, the former Yugoslavia, England, and many South American countries, just to name a few. The intrigue doesn't stop with the students. Many professors and grad students are from other countries, all with their own knowledge, interesting perspectives and anecdotal stories to enrich our education. I sat in a Biology lab with my newly acquired Serbian friend, asking her candidly about the political fallout in her country. Between timed experiments, my lab instructor who is both Peruvian and Saudi was gracious enough to answer questions for me about a translation in Spanish that I was working on. As I perused the lab stations I became engrossed in a conversation between two other students about one's religious beliefs in her country. This was happening in many of my classes. I wasn't learning solely from textbooks or rhetorical writings; I was learning from those who knew best.
One day, in my Spanish composition course, a classmate told me about the Speaking Partners Program. She explained that there were students from all over the world on campus who were trying to learn English and I could ask if there were any Spanish speaking partners available. This was just what I needed because my life was too demanding to permit the time to travel to another country. I checked with the coordinator of the program in Taliferro and to my great luck there was one Spanish- speaking student left! The first meeting was somewhat awkward, but that quickly subsided as our speaking engagements progressed, and before long my Columbian friend, Andres, and I were like old pals. looking back, it seems we spent more time laughing than speaking! He eventually met my family and neighbors and we went on several outings together, while always exchanging knowledge about our respective countries and cultures. One evening was especially memorable. My husband, Andres and I went downtown to dinner and we remembered afterwards that a famous Colombian sculptor/painter, named Fernando Botero had some of his huge, bronze sculptures on display at the mall. We marveled at each bulbous mass of bronze, while I announced each work's title and Andres followed behind correcting my accent and giving us insight about the artist's works and idiosyncrasies. We enjoyed the time immensely because it was here that we recognized with the help of enormous visuals, that our cultures had met. They met in a fashion only to please. We' d both experience the constant degrading of one another's country. From the computer lab in Jimenez, via the Internet, we could read each other's local newspapers. I still enjoy reading El Tiempo from Columbia. He's most likely given up on the Washington Post. It only reports the negative side of his country. I know otherwise; there are wonderful people who live there and are very proud to be Colombians.
The world didn't stop with Andres. He constantly introduced me to others. We met at a few gatherings in Taliferro for the program and although communication was a challenge at times, everyone understood dance and food. Food from the various cultures, of course. Then there were our lunch meetings in the cafeterias, where I sat many times with four speaking partners at once. When Andres left for Columbia, he left me with a newly acquired speaking partner from the Dominican Republic, named Kaisey. we signed up for an African rhythm dance course together, offered through the Center for the Arts. Unfortunately, it was canceled because we needed more students, like yourselves to participate. Kaisey, like Andres became close with my family. She sometimes brought her nieces with her on visits and the kids had a great time together.
In my current translation class, we are involved in the ICON conferences on campus. Our class translates the agendas, but does not negotiate. It's probably an enviable position to be in from what I hear about the possibility of heated discussions. We'll still be learning from the discussions that we translate, about how others view this world we all share.
I'm confident that I'm doing my best to take advantage of the "Global Village" that extends from our campus, onward throughout the world. It's remarkable to me that 90% of the time, I hear another language being spoken as I walk from one class to the next. The world is here for the taking, in person or by the Net. I'm glad my curiosity got the best of me. It's made me a better person, with help from the program at UMCP.
Third Place, 1998
Author: Michael Barret
A COLLEGE PARK GLOBAL VILLAGE
Before we talk about my vision of a global is, we must first define what a village and a globe are. Webster says a village is a settlement larger than a hamlet and smaller than a town. A hamlet is defined as a small village. From the definition we can draw the conclusion that a village is a dwelling where people know each other pretty well. There is some sort of familiarity with your neighbor.
Webster says a globe is the earth. This will include people of all races and nationalities. The customs and beliefs that people carry across the globe are numerous. Now that we have the definition for both terms, we can put them together and see what we have to strive for if we want to create a global village. at College Park. we would have a small town of people form different nationalities who are familiar with one another. What do we have now? How far do we have to go? These are the questions that need to be answered.
The University is a diverse community. We have students from various nationalities studying for their degrees at College Park. Although the majority of students are White, we have become increasingly more diverse over the pass decade. we may never be able to represent the globe race wise, but we have enough diversity to represent the major ethnic minorities that live in the state of Maryland.
The other criteria is having an establishment that can be considered a village. I feel we pass this criteria in terms of size. The other essential characteristic of a village is familiarity with your neighbor. This is what we have to work on. I have sat in many classes where the Black students sit together and the White students sit together, the females sit together and the males sit together, the athletes sit together and the fraternity and sorority members sit together. There is nothing wrong with sitting by someone who has certain traits in common with you, but it becomes a problem when it prevents you from interacting with someone who is not of your same race or nationality. I have also been guilty of creating cliques. When we create cliques, we sometimes shut out those who are not a part of the group. This is a hurdle we have to overcome if we want to create a global community at College Park.
I am from the island of Jamaica. I was born there and spent my early childhood in the city of Kingston. When I came to the United States at the age of six, I had to learn a lot of things about the American culture. I had never seen snow, an escalator, elevator, pizza or a football game. The only way I could assimilate is to talk to those who were born here and learn the culture hands on. I would have never "caught on" with the way life is in America if I had not been open to new ideas. Being open to new ideas does not mean you have to accept them, but be willing to hear them. It will be impossible to do this if we as students stay exclusively to our own race.
I had difficulty fitting in when I arrived in the states. Although Jamaica's official language is English, I had an accent that made me stick out like a sore thumb. I still have a slight accent today. My goal was not to lose my accent so I would stop getting teased but to learn more about my neighbors. After all this is the place I would now call home. This should be the goal of every student on this campus. I am not saying you should lose your beliefs or turn your back on your ethnicity, but be open to the world in which others live. Just as I came to the realization that the US was now my home, students should realize this will be their home for the next four years (or in my case five). Learning math, English, and computer skills are not all the benefits of going to this University. We need to learn about other cultures as well. This is the added benefit we have going to Maryland that may not be available at a university less diverse as ours. Familiarity with your neighbor is the only way we w
One of my favorite classes that I have taken at this university is Asian American experience class. I will be truthful. My intentions for taking the class was not to learn more about a new culture, but it was one of those classes that fit my time slot and fulfilled a requirement. After taking the class, I realized how fortunate I was to have learned about the Asian culture. I knew nothing about their history in the united States or the struggles they had to go through to become "citizens" in this country. Before taking this class, I was naive enough to think that the only discrimination that ever took place in this country was "Black discrimination". Another learning experience that this class provided for me was the elimination of the misconceptions that I had of homosexuals. There were gay and lesbian guest speakers in class one day. After they spoke with the class about their life and the hardship of "coming out" to their family and friends, I looked at the situation differently. I did not have
I have gone through the benefits I gained from taking this class because I think it is a cure for the epidemic of unfamiliarity with people who are not like us. We can start to create a global village by taking a class that deals with the history and customs of our races. A lot of people have already done this and I'm sure it has helped them become more open-minded as well. High school students in Prince George's County are now required to do a certain number of hours of community service before they are able to graduate. The goal is to create a more well rounded and caring individual. If it were possible to make it a requirement that each student take a class that taught them about the history of a race and/or nationality besides their own, it would have the same effect as well. I don't think this will make people sit beside a person of a different rave in every class they go to, but it is a step in the right direction. Rome was not built in a day.
It doesn't take a lot of money to create a global village here at College Park. All it takes is a few minutes each day to learn about people who are not like ourselves. A conversation does not take a lot of tome and it can do lots of good. Maybe we can have a diversity discussion each week. Here we can learn more about each other. We can learn about the issues different students face at the university. I guarantee that this will make us more familiar with one another. Then when employers see a College Park graduate they will be able to say this is a great humanitarian and a person that is open to new people and new situations. They will say that person has a degree from College Park, the institution that made a global village a reality.
1997 Contest Poster and Entry Form
1997 Contest Winners
First Place, 1997
Author: Jennifer R. Krumrine
When, on my first day of graduate orientation in the fall of 1995, I
walked into the Toll Lounge on the first floor of the Physics building,
I was greeted by Dr. Richard Ellis, who asked me to help myself to a
name tag and a seat. I looked around at my 24 classmates for the first
time. I was suddenly -- and self-consciously -- aware that I was,
perhaps, the only person in the room who didn't need a name
tag. The students, TA's and faculty present were all male. I picked up
a blank tag, wrote "Jenny," and nodded to Dr. Ellis. "So I won't be
confused with the other women in the room," I quipped.
In spite of the efforts of those responsible for the ubiquity of the
phrase "women and minorities are strongly encouraged to apply," a lack
of gender diversity persists in the physical sciences in terms of
numbers and how well women fare. For example, in non-academic sectors,
women holding doctoral degrees in physics earn 12-15% less than men;
among full professors, females earn 9% less than their male counterparts
(Curtin and Chu 1994, 20)*. At the University of Maryland at College
Park, just three out of seventy Physics faculty members are women**,
including one full professor. The physics graduate student body
comprises nine percent women (Ellis 1997).
Throughout my education in physics, I have had a vague feeling that
women in science have a different experience than men. I became
interested in close examination of this disparity and how the success of
women is affected by it. With this in mind, I visited the American
Institute of Physics, Department of Education and Employment Statistics,
and spoke with Patrick Mulvey, who has studied the performance of women
and men in physics. Also, I located articles and books, like Who
Succeeds in Science? The Gender Dimension (Sonnert 1995), attended
meetings of women in physics and took the Theories of Feminism class
offered by the UMCP Women's Studies Department. My most valuable
contribution to an environment supportive of diversity is to have
educated myself.
The misinformation and lack of information about gender and success
in science inhibits the creation of climate of cooperation and positive
interactions. For example, an issue to be addressed is the resentment
that stems from perceived preferential treatment of women and
minorities. I recall comments of an office mate last summer who
believed his difficulty in finding a permanent position was because he
was not a "one-legged black woman." Had he been aware that men and
women in physics suffer unemployment at the same rate (Curtin and Chu
1994, 22), my office mate could have redirected his frustration at a
tight job market instead of his peers.
In the process of educating myself about issues of gender and
science, I learned what kind of information is available and what is
not. Most universities do not have accurate, current records of their
student bodies or information on the careers of recent graduates (Mulvey
1997). Therefore, women applying to schools for physics do not have
access to data on which universities can boast low attrition rates for
female students and a high percentage of women who realize career
success after graduation. Statistics that reflect a climate supportive
of women and minorities are simply not available.
This prompted me to look at the statistics in my own program,
Chemical Physics. Dr. Michael Coplan, the Director of the Chemical
Physics Program, shares my interest improving the climate of the
Chemical Physics Program and would like to implement new strategies that
might foster the success of women. Now, I am in the beginning stages of
this process, which includes learning from the efforts of other
universities, in particular, Harvard. With the knowledge and experience
that I am gaining, I am empowered to positively influence the climate
for women in the physical sciences, not only as a graduate student at
UMCP, but in the future, as a physicist and, perhaps, as a policy
maker.
References
Curtin, Jean M., and Raymond Y. Chu. 1994 Salaries:Society Membership
Survey. American Institute of Physics, 1994.
Ellis, Richard F. Interview by author, April 1997, College Park.
University of Maryland, College Park.
Mulvey, Patrick. Interview by author, January 1997, College Park.
American Institute of Physics, College Park.
Sonnert, Gerhard, and Gerald Holton. Who Succeeds in Science? The
Gender Dimension. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press,
1995.
Third Place, 1997
HOW I AM SHAPING AN INCLUSIVE CLIMATE SUPPORTIVE OF DIVERSITY
AS A STUDENT AT UMCP
Liora Moriel
As an returning female student who is multinational, older, Jewish,
hearing-impaired, working class and lesbian, I am a one-woman beta site for the university's diversity initiative. But my story is much more than a check-list of differences. It is also much more than just "my" story; it is a story of an evolving campus culture.
The first time I came to the College Park campus, it looked enormous; the map on the entrance wall was bewildering. The quad seemed an endless walkway flanked by too-similar buildings. I quickly concluded that I was lost and asked passing students for directions. Finally, I approached a group of young Black women who proved to be knowledgeable and friendly. In later conversations with minority students I learned that UMCP had only recently begun to integrate and that many still felt underrepresented, but this wonderful image of strong Black women in control of their environment has stayed with me.
When I returned to the campus to follow the paper trail I had sent from Israel and Canada, the campus felt smaller and more familiar until I reached Mills Hall, only to discover that the Women's Studies department had moved and that the building it had previously occupied was being completely renovated and reinvented as the Nyumburu Cultural Center. It is fitting that this center has arisen so magnificently from the roots of a department devoted to inclusion and to curriculum transformation.
The paper chase proved illusory. I was informed that without a 3.0 GPA I could not be considered for graduate school. The fact that I had produced two international music festivals, lectured extensively and was a published writer and journalist was ignored. Eventually, at my request, a committee was set up to review my case; it was decided to allow me to be an "advanced special student" for a semester to gauge whether I was suitable for graduate studies at this university or not.
I am grateful for that opportunity. And I am hopeful that because of my example, as an older returning student without a 3.0 GPA who subsequently has kept a 4.0 GPA through four semesters, the university will be more open to other returning students, female and male alike, who have decided to turn their lives around.
I have proved to the committee and to myself that I am capable of bridging the gap between activism and academe, street-smarts and scholarship. Because Women's Studies does not offer a graduate degree but only a certificate, I am enrolled in the Comparative Literature Program, enriched by the combination. As a teaching assistant, I have the opportunity to teach and learn about diversity; I think what my students teach me is as valuable as what I teach them.
There are challenges ahead. While my age, class, ethnicity, religion and slight disability are issues that the campus community is consistently able to deal with effortlessly and well, my sexual orientation is something too many in the campus community would rather ignore or erase. I do not look like a lesbian any more than I look middle-aged.
But because my area of research is blurred boundaries, or "passing," I am especially aware of how easy it is to discount differences and share the fantasy of phantom baggage, and how destructive such denial can be for both sides. Recently, the Board of Regents voted overwhelmingly to ignore its own diversity initiative on this issue of sexual orientation and deny domestic partnership benefits that are fast becoming standard in campuses across the United States.
Otherwise, I have found a strong, dedicated, nurturing campus community that is diverse and exciting. My area of research is something that did not exist when I was an undergraduate, so inadvertently it is a blessing that I have waited this long to resume my studies. I do not feel my differences as I interact with my grad school colleagues, many of whom are young enough to be my children but who make me feel young enough to be their contemporary.
But just as I would do everything in my power to ensure that minority
students, faculty and staff do not feel marginalized, I would like to see those in power on this campus do everything they must to ensure that sexual-minority students, faculty and staff do not feel marginalized. Just as we learned in the sixties that freedom is indivisible, we must learn today that equality and dignity, and respect, and scholarship is indivisible.
