{"id":20019,"date":"2023-05-11T12:40:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T20:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=20019"},"modified":"2023-05-11T12:40:28","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T20:40:28","slug":"all-for-one-one-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/all-for-one-one-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"All for one, one for all"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by: Dakota Gange<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Finding what is conducive to one\u2019s success as a student can be challenging. Western has a plethora of resources available for students, many of which are located in the Werner University Center \u2014 a central campus location that is full of student aid.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From Abby\u2019s House assisting students with basic needs, to the Center for Professional Pathways helping students to navigate possible careers and internships, to the Non-Traditional Student Lounge, there\u2019s help where Wolves need it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Next to Caff\u00e9 Allegro lies the Freedom Center \u2014 a room that is nearly impossible to miss upon entering the WUC. Their atmosphere is bright and welcoming, offering a casual lounge and living room setting with T.V., music, snacks and drinks; a study table, test-taking resources and most imperative, immediate drop-in student-led advisory that can be an aid for everyone in answering questions one may have. This includes basic questions about how to navigate DegreeTracks, all the way up to helping students with their DACA \u2014 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals \u2014 paperwork.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Freedom Center was founded by minorities and established as a safe place for BIPOC students to gather; all ethnicities are welcome.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If one were to walk into the Freedom Center today, they\u2019d find a recently rearranged, calming and welcoming atmosphere \u2014 while visiting I felt comfortable, welcomed and confident.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, recently circulating among various campus departments, including ASWOU, is a letter suggesting the closure of the Freedom Center.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a Western Howl<\/span> \u201cLetter to the Editor,\u201d<\/span> a person the Howl will not be naming, wrote:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/i><\/b>The<\/span> majority of faculty and students at WOU are white females. This is not surprising as it is a teachers\u2019 college in Oregon and females are historically <\/span>the<\/span> majority in education and Oregon is overwhelmingly white.<\/span><\/p>\n

Society would benefit in many ways if more males from ethnic minorities became teachers (Black males are particularly underrepresented in <\/span>the teaching<\/span> profession) and WOU should lead in recruitment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately WOU\u2019s creation of a \u2018Freedom Center\u2019 as \u2018a safe space for BIPOC students\u2019 and \u2018<\/span>to<\/span> provide a refuge for People of Color\u2019 is counterproductive. It is based on patronizing assumptions by white women and was not requested by any minority student.<\/span><\/p>\n

BIPOC is a term created by white academics who mistakenly think their concern for ending oppression of Blacks automatically gives them enough of <\/span>an<\/span> understanding of Black experience as <\/span>to<\/span> qualify them <\/span>to<\/span> speak for Blacks.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is pretentious and patronizing and in some cases (such as Rachel Dolezal, Jessica A. Krug, CV Vitolo-Haddad et al) leads <\/span>to<\/span> a fraudulent claim that <\/span>an<\/span> affinity for Blacks qualifies as identification as Black.<\/span><\/p>\n

WOU needs <\/span>to<\/span> shut down <\/span>the<\/span> Freedom Center because it sends <\/span>the<\/span> wrong messages. It implies that minority students are not safe on campus and need a refuge. It officially divides <\/span>the<\/span> student body into two distinct groups: white and People-of-Color (which is plain racism).<\/span><\/p>\n

WOU must hire minorities <\/span>to<\/span> represent and speak for minority interests and end this damaging patronization by unqualified white women,<\/span>\u201d <\/b>this individual wrote. <\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Reitorized, the Freedom Center was founded by minority students. According to Western\u2019s Institutional Research, as of fall 2022, 57.6% of students are White, with the next leading percentage of 23.8% for Hispanic\/Latino students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After receiving the letter, I spoke to Western student and Co-Director of the Freedom Center Aneli Godinez-Martinez.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI know that the person that sent (the letter), after talking with our supervisors, is probably someone that hasn\u2019t come to the center, and\/or doesn\u2019t know how it was brought up. I think the letter was pulled out of context a little bit right off the bat, as it pulls pieces of our mission statement into the letter,\u201d said Martinez.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Freedom Center\u2019s mission statement, which can be found on Western’s website, states, \u201cThe Freedom Center strives to serve as a safe space for all students, especially those who are BIPOC and their intersectional identities. We welcome every unique individual here at Western Oregon University as we provide resources, connections, and education for our campus.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is where Martinez wants to clarify that though the mission statement says that it\u2019s a \u201csafe space,\u201d it\u2019s not to be taken out of context \u2014 the statement is not implying that any part of campus is unsafe, but rather that the Freedom Center is a place that welcomes tough questions for students who have additional hurdles, like how to renew one\u2019s DACA paperwork, as well as a place for immediate advising help, even for what may seem like a simple question, such as how to register for classes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While there are non-student staff members, it\u2019s important that the Freedom Center is primarily run by students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe do mention that we are a space for BIPOC students and intersectional identities, but any student that comes in here \u2014 we love that we have students in here and that they like to hang out. Our resources are provided for everybody. But you know, minority students sometimes need a little extra help because maybe they\u2019re first-generation students, and so they might not know how to go about college.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While the center is actively expanding its ability to provide various resources to students, it can still aid in finding out any information a student may need.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s (the Freedom Center) definitely to bring the school together, definitely not to separate us even more. I love that all races, sexual identities and orientations are welcome here. Everyone\u2019s welcome here,\u201d said Martinez.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always been a center that was worked on by minority students, and we wanted to create a space for students to feel welcome \u2014 but it\u2019s not that we want to create a space that only minority students can go to, or the only place they feel safe, it\u2019s more so just to be a space where students can get a peer to peer perspective \u2014 everyone that works here are students, so it\u2019s student-led for a reason.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Martinez expresses that if there\u2019s any misunderstanding or curiosity about what the center is, the best way to get an understanding of it is to come in and meet with the students that work at the center. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come \u201csee what they\u2019re about.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Contact the author at howlmanagingeditor@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1094,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-special-issues"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20019\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}