The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

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Write for Us
Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
@TheChrony
Print Issues

Clubs on campus

By Tiara Fuller

Soon a new school year will start. Whether it be entering freshmen or returning seniors, students of all classes will be flocking to the registration tables en masse to sign up for a club or two.

The U has more than 300 clubs and organizations to choose from, but if you think you could join any one you want, you’d be wrong.

Going strictly by the club names, if you are a white male, you are excluded from joining more than 35 of them.

I am sure that white males aren’t barred from joining some of these clubs. In the case of the Latino Medical Studet Association, whites are able to join — they just need to be interested in the cause the club supports.

I have a question, though: “Where are the clubs specifically formed to benefit the student population of white males?”

There are none.

Two wrongs don’t make a right. Some people argue that minorities were oppressed by the “white male,” so it is only right that white males experience it now. This segregation is no better than the times when America had “white” and “colored” signs over drinking fountains. It was wrong then and it is wrong now.

There should be no double standard. It is shameful for white men to disrespect themselves by accepting this. This is especially true when, as is the case at the U, white males’ student fees are financially contributing the most to these clubs that exclude them.

What was preached in the ’60s? Equality. Is that what we have now? No! We have let affirmative action swing the pendulum to the other extreme.

For example, all engineering students may join Engineers Building a Better Tomorrow. That club should be sufficient for all members of the engineering department to socialize and get insight into their future careers. However, if you are “lucky” enough to be a minority, you could also join societies specifically for ethnic student engineers, Hispanic student engineers, women in science, math and engineering, or American Indian students in science and engineering.

The engineering department is not alone in allowing and promoting the existence of exclusionary clubs. The business school has Hispanic Business and Multi-cultural Business clubs.

Diversity is a highly touted benefit to any organization, I’m not denying that. But why do these groups take the diversity of viewpoints they can offer amd seclude themselves? The clubs all have the same mission — to help students in their chosen field and ultimately be successful in their careers. I dn’t know why there needs to be several doiffernt clubs for different groups in the same field. It is redundant and counter-productive.

Organizations such as these are racist, sexist and divisive and are not beneficial to society. They degrade their members and, as such, are hypocritical to the whole basis for their existence. They rob students of the confidence they will badly need in the “real world.”

We came to the U hoping to be prepared for our future careers and lives. What are these clubs really teaching their members? That they need to be sheltered and isolated from the white males of society, or perhaps that without help, minorities will never be able to compete with and be equal to them.

I would hate to know that I had ever been given a job just because a firm needed to meet a quota. If I were going up against a man for a job, I would want to know that I earned it based on merit, not because I was a woman.

Affirmative action is demeaning to minorities. It facilitates the idea that without help they could never make it on their own merit. Additionally, it encourages white males to diminish their own worth and feel guilty of their achievements. It drives the wedges of race and gender deeper instead of closing the gap to find commonalities and respect for each other.

I would hope that the U and its clubs and organizations would, instead of dashing our hopes and implanting fear of inadequacy, instill in all of us the confidence necessary to feel that — no matter our color or gender — if we put our minds to it, we can attain our dreams.

[email protected]

Phil Cannon

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