These are sample statements to the Privilege Walk activity.
SAEL 200 has been by far my favorite course in my undergraduate education. SAEL stands for Social Advocacy and Ethical Life and is based on using different argumentation tactics to educate our peers on a pressing issue through speeches. The most important theory that I learned in this course was standpoint theory. Standpoint Theory is a how when you discuss a system of marginalized people, you have to look at it from the perspective of the people who are being marginalized and not from the center, because at the center everything seems to be working “well” but really you are just not in the right perspective. Along with learning this theory we did a privilege walk activity where certain statements would determine if you were in a position of higher privilege then your peers. This walk made us realized how certain people benefit or are marginalizes by systems in our society. Statements like, “English is your first language, both of your parents have college degrees, you are male, etc.”, made me realize that I am not at all privileged in comparison to my peers, but I am in a huge position of privilege in comparison with my community. At the end of the privilege walk activity, the two people of color were the ones far back on the line and it was surprising to see how people are marginalized by this system because of factors they cannot control. I had mixed feelings about this activity simply because I was one of the two people at the very far end of the privilege spectrum, but I did not feel like I was any less than my peers. Rather, after the activity I felt great that regardless of my “lack” of privilege I was still in the same classroom, taking the same course as them. Not only was I taking the same course, but I excelled in it by completing the course with an A, and with a wonderful relationship with my professor.
With this course I was able to identify the various systems that oppress individuals like me that were not born in the country, that were of Hispanic/ Latinx descent, and that were female. This course also allowed me to realize that I have a lot of power as an individual and I can do a lot in order to positively influence my peers. I am very passionate about working with the Hispanic/ Latinx community, therefore after taking this course I took the initiative to become the president of my sorority. Not only am I now the president, but I was also a founding charter member of the only Latina sorority on campus. If there is one way of understanding the problems that affect us Latinos, then it starts with unifying each other and working together for a common goal. There is now a place where incoming students to the university, can feel comfortable expressing their culture and being with people that identify the same as them. A sense of belonging is extremely important in the retention of higher education, so because of this course I ran for president and have been doing various activities on campus that promote our culture as well as unify the Latinx community on campus.
Due to the various leadership positions I hold, I am often invited to special luncheons and discussions with people in important positions within the university. Last semester, I attended three “Dive-In” lunches which are Diversity and Inclusion lunch discussions set up by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. These lunches are an effort to bring students, faculty, and staff together to discuss the importance of diversity and inclusion in our campus. I have had the privilege to eat pasta with Provost Joan T.A Gabel and President Harris Pastides in various occasions. In all of the occasions I have taken the initiative in engaging conversation about promoting culture and diversity through our student organizations and the struggles we face with certain factors. The purpose of these lunches is for the students to speak up about certain issues or concerns that pertain to diversity and inclusion, so I always made sure to advocate for a more supporting system for student organizations. The administration wants the campus to be more inclusive and diverse but they do not see the struggles the students face in order to make this happen. What constitutes a diverse culture? In order to make the university a more diverse institution we can create events that help us promote our culture through food, dance, advocacy, panel discussions, etc., but if the university lacks the funding and does not allow us to authentically promote our culture, then how can we achieve this? This is where standpoint theory comes perfectly into place. People like the Provost and the President may not see the problem because they see that the system has worked in the past and is still somewhat working, but they have to consider how the system is hurting certain student organizations, particularly the multicultural ones. The university has to be willing to look past what already seems to be working in order to actually make a more diverse and inclusive institution. Food in cultures is very important as it retains a sense of identity when you share different practices with other individuals. Food can also be seen as a safe haven in order to start branching out into other cultures as all people must consume food. All cultures have food in common and it can be used as a window of opportunity to invite others to learn about your culture. When my student organization hosts events with food, we want our food to be authentic as authenticity of our culture and proper representation is what we advocate for. If a student organization requests over $500 to buy food from a small business that sells authentic food, we must check with Sodexo, the company that provides all catering and food products at USC, to see if they can make the food at a cheaper price. How are we going to ask an American owned company to make empanadas, tamales, churros, pasteles, etc. and still authentically represent our culture through food? Not only did we sometimes have to opt out to getting Hispanic food made by Sodexo, but we also had find a small business that would allow us to get all the products and leave an “I owe you” voucher as payment. It takes a business 3-4 weeks to receive any kind of payment, and unfortunately these small business cannot let go of $500 or more worth of product to be paid back weeks later. These are factors that people in higher positions of power do not see because it does not directly affect them and they are looking at things from the center. Just like standpoint theory states, at the center everything seems to be working fine but you must look past the center to see the true flaws any system has.
This is an essay that I wrote as part of this class. Throughout the class we had to advocate for a certain topic and use different ideologies to provide potential solutions to the problem at hand. I chose the ideology of equality and equity among Latinos in South Carolina, specifically pertaining to drug addiction.
Moray Jackson is in charge of creating Dive-In Lunches as she works in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. She has invited me to several of these lunches, as well as nominated me for different recognitions.
At the last Dive-In lunch of Fall 2016, I took a picture with President Pastides after discussing the need for more inclusion at the University of South Carolina.