Burst the "Bubble"!

A life-sized cardboard cutout of Barak Obama was hung from a tree in front of Minthorn Hall at George Fox University yesterday. It was suspended on a branch with fishing line around the neck. On the cutout, was a sign that read "Act 6 Reject".

George Fox University is a Christian university. I went to that university. It truly angers me to see that students/staff there have not moved on from their sheltered ways. Fox, as the university is called by staff, alumn, and those in town, has what is called a "bubble". The bubble is the little community where the students are in their own world, separate from everything and everyone else. It is a world where people are expected to act a certain way and say the right things. Everything has to be fair and there are standards to be met.

Act 6 is an initiative developed a couple years ago to try to diversify the campus. Full-ride scholarships are awarded to minority students with Act 6; a gift many do not have the luck to recieve who want to go to a $35,000+ per year college. I was a recipient of a multicultural scholarship when I went to GFU. I learned really fast to not mention it to anyone. The other students were bitter about affirmative action and would make hateful, jealous remarks about such scholarships.

I had a roommate whose family was of Middle Eastern origins. They were a nice, Christian family. After September 11, 2001, my roommate was told to go "terrorize someone else" by GFU parking security personnel when she went to dispute a parking ticket she got from campus security. She didn't want to tell, but I told for her. We were told that the situation was going to be taken care of and not to go around talking about it.

This hateful act at Fox is obviously not an issue about Obama; it is an issue about race. Robin Baker, the president of the univeristy, waited until the next day to make any public statements about the incident. He basically said that what the person did is not very nice and we need to all love each other. How sweet. You can find George Fox's statement about the incident and see Robin Baker speak during chapel here. Read Robin Baker's transcript of his speech here. Robin Baker even wrote a letter to Senator Obama and posted on the GFU website. Why?

Where is the multicultural office in all of this? Yes, they are tending to the students who have been deeply hurt by this act. But now is their chance to stand-up and show some authority on the subject. This department needs to take a stand and show that this action is not to be tolerated. There is a time to hand-hold and a time for action.

Now is a time for action and to pop the bubble that has clouded over the university for so long. The world is not made up of blonde hair, anglo-americans. Duh!

Read more about this incident in The Oregonian.