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Monday, April 14, 2003
I went on what felt like a derive on saturday—- it was with a group which was more fun than alone (though the alone ones have been good too, one in particular leading me to places I didn’t expect—I’ll write about that more one of these days). It happened as part of a community mapping training that this community connections project was holding on campus in order to bridge the huge distance there is between south bend the town and st. mary’s the college (a racial, class, and geographic divide). The little group I was in went exploring on campus for locked doors. In our explorations, we came to the main super-fancy building, the heart of campus both architecturally and administratively. Two doors seemed especially of note, given the attack on affirmative action. One was a set of double-doors to the Vice-President’s office which was locked but easy to open anyway (it wasn’t bolted to the floor). Inside the office we found two pictures on the wall, one a huge picture of st. mary’s students from about 100 years ago--all white-- and the other of the current governing board—-still all white. “Now the same as then” said Fannie. The VP’s office seemed to represent the fact of white dominance on campus—- a fact that the administration tries to downplay, keep locked, but that is easy enough to figure out, to open up. On the other hand, the room that really was locked was the admissions office—-there was just no getting in there without completely messing with the door. Anyway it was great to be there laughing and talking and trying to get in forbidden spaces with people in that grand and somber building. |