The campus may have good diversity, but the classroom is lacking
From personal observation, I have noticed over the last four years while attending Winthrop University that I have not really had many people of color teach any of my courses, mainly African-American. Being a political science student, I have had maybe two people of color teach me, one African-American and one South Korean. Now it may not seem like a big deal, but overhearing other students discuss this made me realize that this is a bigger issue than I thought. At Winthrop, we have many inclusive classes, such as African-American studies, but it only seems like there are a few people “qualified” to teach it. “Qualified” meaning those who are of African descent. Now, I am not questioning our faculty members’ quality or expertise, I am simply stating that there are too few people of color teaching at Winthrop. Especially with possibly new majors such as African-American studies being introduced soon as an actual major instead of a minor or concentration.
Winthrop has a very broad and eclectic set of faculty members teaching. The purpose of bringing to light the idea of more people of color teaching here is a “call to arms” in other words, meaning to open our eyes to the fact that the number of people of color teaching here is at an alarmingly low rate. If one were to look at the curriculum and set of courses, most of the teachers are white, (excluding the foreign language department). It is not necessarily bad that most of the teachers are white, it is just upsetting not to have a more diverse culture of teachers and professors for such a liberal arts school that bases their morals on being diverse. The whole idea of the campus being diverse is frankly hypocritical, with regards to the education and faculty members. Hopefully by this time next year, we as a community of students will see a more diverse cultivation of faculty members teaching here at Winthrop. I just hope Winthrop sees this and ponders to themselves, “are we really being as diverse as we are saying we are?” I want Winthrop to question themselves and realize they can do better at hiring and placing more people of color into more classrooms not just the ones that they are “qualified” for.
