ARGH! Damn Kids! Get offa my polemic!
I'm feeling grouchy and want to yell at a few people. General details - a new faculty club is forming at Adelaide Uni for the Humanities and Social Sciences, which is great and I absolutely support it. As tends to be the way of such things, there's a lot of focus on 'we need a committee for this and a process for that and a representative for something else'. Which drives me batty, because people get so bogged down in the paperwork and committee structure that they forget about the actual club and what it could actually be doing.
So first gripe was the idea that there should be a Mature Age Student representative. Ok, I say, I'm a mature age student, and I don't see why we need a rep; my experience as a University Student is certainly affected by that, but my experience specifically as a Humanities student isn't. And every mature age student I spoke to agrees with me on this one (and as I'm an active member of the Mature Students Association, I was able to talk to a lot of them.)
Oh well, came the reply, it's so if there's any discrimination there is someone to go to.
In that case, I said, let's not weigh this fledgling society down with a whole lot of reps, let's just start with an Equity Officer whose job is to ensure that all Humanities Students are able to freely join the club, and any issues they have that might hinder that (e.g. English not being the first language) the Equity Officer needs to be aware of and deal with. Yup, one Equity Officer (or possibly two, one of each gender, if you insist) instead of a dozen different reps for female folk, queer folk, black folk, foreign folk, disabled folk, etc etc etc (there were something like 9 different reps proposed.)
You'd think I'd suggested roasting babies alive. The grand result is I'm pissed off with a couple of 20 year olds patronisingly telling me I know nothing about gender politics and anti-discrimination issues, and I'm having to bite my tongue very hard not to slap them down with a blunt 'what year were you born? Congratulations, I'd already been an activist dealing with this shit for 10 years by then.' On top of that, the Smooge is supremely pissed off at yet another group of Right On Persuns telling him that as a straight, middle class, white male he can't possibly relate or be involved in addressing issues of discrimination or inequality. Because, you know, he can't possibly understand what it means to be gay. Of course, the Smooge has a gay younger brother he is incredibly close with, and a gay best friend, and has been supporting and defending both of them for years, and suffered discrimination in return from both sides of the fence for it. But hey, he's the patriarchal majority, it doesn't count!
Grumble grumble grouch. There is a time and place for affirmative action, and specific representation. There is also a point where "positive discrimination" cripples rather than enables the recipient; likewise there is a point where we need to take the next step beyond having one person to represent the overlooked needs of a subset of people and start genuinely insisting that as a group we need to be actively thinking and looking beyond our own little bubbles, not just trundling on obliviously with the assumption that it's all ok because there is a designated rep to say 'now hang on...'
End of rant. Tiime to go do something productive.
So first gripe was the idea that there should be a Mature Age Student representative. Ok, I say, I'm a mature age student, and I don't see why we need a rep; my experience as a University Student is certainly affected by that, but my experience specifically as a Humanities student isn't. And every mature age student I spoke to agrees with me on this one (and as I'm an active member of the Mature Students Association, I was able to talk to a lot of them.)
Oh well, came the reply, it's so if there's any discrimination there is someone to go to.
In that case, I said, let's not weigh this fledgling society down with a whole lot of reps, let's just start with an Equity Officer whose job is to ensure that all Humanities Students are able to freely join the club, and any issues they have that might hinder that (e.g. English not being the first language) the Equity Officer needs to be aware of and deal with. Yup, one Equity Officer (or possibly two, one of each gender, if you insist) instead of a dozen different reps for female folk, queer folk, black folk, foreign folk, disabled folk, etc etc etc (there were something like 9 different reps proposed.)
You'd think I'd suggested roasting babies alive. The grand result is I'm pissed off with a couple of 20 year olds patronisingly telling me I know nothing about gender politics and anti-discrimination issues, and I'm having to bite my tongue very hard not to slap them down with a blunt 'what year were you born? Congratulations, I'd already been an activist dealing with this shit for 10 years by then.' On top of that, the Smooge is supremely pissed off at yet another group of Right On Persuns telling him that as a straight, middle class, white male he can't possibly relate or be involved in addressing issues of discrimination or inequality. Because, you know, he can't possibly understand what it means to be gay. Of course, the Smooge has a gay younger brother he is incredibly close with, and a gay best friend, and has been supporting and defending both of them for years, and suffered discrimination in return from both sides of the fence for it. But hey, he's the patriarchal majority, it doesn't count!
Grumble grumble grouch. There is a time and place for affirmative action, and specific representation. There is also a point where "positive discrimination" cripples rather than enables the recipient; likewise there is a point where we need to take the next step beyond having one person to represent the overlooked needs of a subset of people and start genuinely insisting that as a group we need to be actively thinking and looking beyond our own little bubbles, not just trundling on obliviously with the assumption that it's all ok because there is a designated rep to say 'now hang on...'
End of rant. Tiime to go do something productive.