Friday, April 3, 2009

Funeral March & Articles about Them


Yesterday, April 2nd, some A3C Committee members joined with other people of color and LGBT people to observe a symbolic funeral for diversity on campus.

Here was the press release for it:
Funeral for Program Houses and safe spaces at Cornell. Students gather to mourn the loss of safe spaces for minorities at Cornell.

Procession to Ho Plaza will start at 12:15pm in front of Sibley Hall on

Thursday April 2, 2009.

Funeral begins at 12:30 on Ho Plaza.

Please dress in black.

Cornell University is regarded as a forward thinking institution committed to diversity and inclusiveness, with a program house system that is respected throughout the country.

However, the university’s purposeful marginalization of these spaces has created the conditions for them to be degraded and disregarded. Cornell’s current policies and attitudes, if continued, will ensure the disappearance of these spaces in the near future.

We are gathering as concerned members of the community to raise awareness of Cornell’s present-day policies and attitudes so that we can prevent this outcome. Specifically, we come to raise awareness for Ujamaa, Latino Living Center, Akwe:kon, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Support Services and the Asian/Asian American Center.

We are aware that these spaces are not currently defunct, however, if action is not taken, they will disappear in the future. The funeral is symbolic of the impending consequences of inaction.

Contact thecoalitioncu@gmail.com for questions.

The Cornell Sun also came out with a front page article reporting on it and an op-ed piece:
  • Article: "C.U. Minorities Stage Mock Funeral, Ask for Greater Univ. Support" - The title is actually not accurate, but it is beyond the control of the reporter--news editors are the only ones making these titles. First, it implies that only "minorities" should care about diversity. Second, participants of the march are not only asking for greater support, but support that used to be there but were cut or subtly being phased out.
  • Op-Ed: "A New Vision for Program Houses" - A great article written by three community leaders. It sheds light on how the administration has been dealing with diversity problematically and how it can make changes that actually work as they are supposed to.
  • Op-Ed: "Running the Risk of Whitewashing History" - A somewhat related article about the WSH Takeover from 1969.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey- can everyone join the facebook group "Cornell Program Housing - Info for admitted students" facebook group. I'm advertising it on CollegeConfidential.com. A kid visited the other day and took the freshman experience tour ... didn't even know what the program houses were after psssing one...

Its up to us - A3C should be a program house too - but we need to keep the ones we have and make the issues known.