This is a response to the piece written by Grant Walters regarding Ashton Johnson's article, "Excuse me, but your privilege is in our way." I want to thank you, Grant, for sharing your opinion with us. It has sparked a discussion too great to contain.
Every person at DePauw University has different experiences. What Ashton wrote in her opinion piece was part of her DePauw experience and should be respected and valued as such, the same as yours. It is oppressive to silence voices that attempt to shed light on issues pertaining directly to members of our student body. As it is unfair to assume that everyone at DePauw is racist, it is also unfair to assume that no one is racist. Many students on this campus have experienced cases of homophobia, racism, classism, sexism, sexual violence, trans-phobia and xenophobia. It doesn't matter if it's one person or two thousand people. What matters is that students at DePauw face these concerns on a daily basis, and, therefore, we must talk about it.
As you stated in your article, we are not in the year 1951. We are in the year 2014, and discrimination has not disappeared. Latinos are being asked to represent their entire ethnic community in a Spanish class full of Caucasian students. International students are ostracized from group projects because "their English isn't good enough." Women and men are sexually assaulted, and a student is told that he/she can't enter a party because of his/her appearance. These all occur at our school regularly. And even though this may not directly impact all of us, discrimination harms our classmates and hinders students from having the positive and inclusive DePauw experience that all of us deserve.
I do not wish to attack anyone for their views; I wish to educate. As my friend says, "It's about learning that the struggle is real, even if you might not see it or live it every day." I hope this motivates us to learn from each other and to create a more aware and accepting DePauw.