Tax dollars fund exclusion of blacks

Tax dollars fund exclusion of blacks

By Ron Jackson is a black communications professor and former dean of the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Cincinnati.

I am a two-time alumnus and former dean of the University of Cincinnati College of Arts & Sciences. I am currently a UC professor, and never have I been so disappointed in the direction of the university with respect to diversity and inclusion than I have been in the last three to four years. This is not the fault of the chief diversity officer. This is a structural concern.

In the wake of university Police Officer Ray Tensing’s killing of 43year-old black male Sam DuBose, those on campus have been treated to programs ranging from administration- sponsored yoga and art exhibits to panels and student forums. In what looks more like a nongenuine PR tactical move than an earnest preface to structural change, the administration has invited the campus community to come to vent, express themselves and share thoughts. The newbies who are experiencing these tactics for the first time fill the room and listen carefully for anything that might signal a shift in how the university leadership intends to address the campus racial climate. To their chagrin, almost nothing happens.

Meanwhile the University of Cincinnati either chooses to ignore the catalyst for the DuBose killing or are too busy covering their behinds. In either case, longtime alumni and community members who have witnessed routine cycles of racism at UC every few years shake their heads, hold private phone conversations and murmur words like, “I can’t believe this is still happening!”

The catalyst for the UC police killing of Sam DuBose, just like the killing of two other black males at the university in the last five years alone, is a racially exclusionary campus climate with recruitment structures to match.

The university will adamantly deny this, but here are the facts: In 2000, there were 3,394 (12.6 percent) black students at UC’s main campus and 19,622 whites (72.7 percent) out of 26,985 total. In 2008, there were 2,978 (10.1 percent) black students on main campus compared with 21,568 (72.8 percent) white students. In 2015, there are less than 2,500 (7.3 percent) black students on the main campus and approximately 25,000 (73 percent) white students, and the total population has risen to over 34,000 students on the main campus, and 45,000 students overall on all three campuses. Do you see the trends? The white student population is increasing and the black student population is declining. This abysmally low number of black students (despite overall student population increases) is complemented by the declining number of full-time black faculty on main campus, now at less than 5 percent of 2,000.

The University of Cincinnati gets 18 percent of its budget from the state of Ohio. That $204 million comes from taxpayers like you and me. We are essentially funding racially exclusionary practices at UC. Our tax dollars continue to help pay for a campus police department that has killed three black males in the last five years alone. Our tax dollars pay for a university that has facilitated major declines in African-American faculty and student enrollment.

These are our tax dollars at work to fund systematic racial exclusion at UC. When will enough be enough? It’s time to hold Ohio state lawmakers, UC Board of Trustees and UC leadership responsible for systematic structural change that remedies these problems. The Black Unity Coalition in Cincinnati – composed of students, faculty, staff, alumni, clergy, business leaders and community members – has begun circulating a petition with now over 200 signatures.

NOTE: To readers. What is missing or could be better about the opinions expressed in the above?