Butler University is a PWI. Wait, whats a PWI?

Butler University is a PWI. Wait, whats a PWI?

Have you ever realized everyone around you is white? Has it caused you to self-reflect why that is the case? Looking back on where Ive attended school, I now realize that Ive only ever attended a predominantly white institution (PWI). From middle school to college, most of my classes, extracurricular activities, and sports team had mostly white students. The neighborhood I grew up in had mostly white families and race was never discussed. As a queer and transgender person, I always felt out of place or isolated since I wasnt straight nor fit in the male/female boxes established before my birth, but it was something I could always hide or lie about. I never thought of what the experience of a person of color in these spaces could be, I was too focused on my own difference of not fitting into these binary gender categories.

My journey to understanding the realities about how people are treated because of their race really came to fruition when I interned in Shanghai, China the summer before my senior year of college. I observed the differences in how this culture treated myself and a fellow intern because of our race and gender. It was the first time I was the other because of my race. It opened my eyes to the realities of how race relations affect our experiences of navigating this world. Being white and (assumed to be) male was favored, but my black female colleague had many negative experiences due to her race.

When I came back to the United States, I had a new lens to view the world; I now saw race. Now dont get me wrong, I knew people had different skin colors and heritage, but this experience shone light on the biases that had surrounded me all my life and I failed to see. Butler University has a long standing history of admitting black and African American students and the founder was an abolitionist. However, even a place like that needs progress. The value of having diversity is bringing a new perspective, to challenge ideas to make them better. The inclusion piece needs to be making sure that perspective is shared and heard.

To own their narrative and promote the perspectives of students of color at PWIs across the country, the students of color at Butler University built a movement called Bust the B.U.B.B.L.E (Believe and Understand the Butler Bubble Limits Everyone). Founded by four students, currently attending Butler University: Daniel King, Taylor Leslie, David X and Anthony Murdock II, this movement uses diversity education, cultural awareness, and action-oriented activism to initiate change. A campus can change every four years, but institutional oppression takes much longer to dismantle. Thats why new leaders of Bust the B.U.B.B.L.E., Bintou Doumbia, Arisa Moreland and Abraham Diop, are stepping up to continue the conversations about race at PWIs. It takes a lot of courage to lead a movement like this, to be that voice of change, and to put yourself in the public eye, potentially subjecting yourself to harm and harassment.

In talking with alumni, the issues at Butler had not changed over the years, but the way students are organizing has, and these students have been busy. Theyve started a blog called Double Consciousness to articulate the experiences of people of color at PWIs. They are working with community partners to address these issues throughout Indianapolis, including conversations with the Butler University Police Department. And, in borrowing a toolkit from the Black Liberation Collective , have organized protests that listed a set of demands to guide the university in improving the campus atmosphere for students of color. This kind of action was needed because, as Daniel King put it, the minds and thinking of the majority population went unchallenged.

The response?

Well its no surprise that taking actions such as this garners the attention of university administration, who have been rather receptive to working with students (it is their job which they are paid to do). However, what worries me (and should worry you to), is the response of fellow students. Already students of color faced microaggressions and verbal harassment in and out of the classroom which were left unpunished, but now, amid heighten tensions about race due to problematic political discourse, its obvious that there is much more work to be done. In turning to an anonymous platform called Yik Yak, fellow students were quick to mock, denounce, and silence this challenging of the status quo.

Our identities shape our experience, said Anthony Murdock II. Anthony started his activism before coming to college, but after hearing the experiences of fellow students of color and continuing to see police brutality against people of color in the news, decided to turn his outrage into action. If you want to be successful in liberation at predominantly white institutions (PWIs), eliminate fear. Fear is the lack of awareness.

It is naive to think that racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, and ableism will just disappear with a new generation. Yes, a new generation breeds new leaders like the students who started Bust the B.U.B.B.L.E., but it also reproduces people who fail to understand the systematic racism that has persisted since the very inception of this university, nay, of this country. Challenging the power structures that exists is not limited to racial issues, but must be intersectional across socio-economic status, gender, sexuality, disability, and faith.

Stay up to date with Bust The B.U.B.B.L.E. by visiting the Double Consciousness blog and signing up for email updates.