My interpretation of the world is a lot different than most. It is so different that I want to end the year on a point that I feel explains itself. So I am going to take the bullet and risk both life and limb to spread the message to those who deserve the news: you, the people.
Every year, the school hires students to help eager, young freshmen adapt to the new environment. These people are known as Peer Mentors. The school hires what they call a diverse group of people to work the position from a sea of applicants. They feel they make the right choices that will best express the diversity (Where? I was recently reading what I thought was a WC newsletter and was surprised to find it was actually an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog) at Washington College. Unfortunately, the school is as wrong about that as I was about this article.
Let me give a little back story to properly present my gripe because I am required by The Elm to write a coherent piece at least once a semester and my back is against the wall on this.
When I first came to college I was introduced to my Peer Mentor and was immediately privileged to a great game to introduce ourselves to a new group of people which I know as small talk, but a game form is way better. We then got up, and I believe, meandered around the town until we got to the boathouse so that we could know how grand the bustling metropolis of C-town truly is. We took a boat trip and left.
The whole time my Peer Mentor... his name escapes me, I think it started with a B, made conversations about cool terminology about the town and other trivia (you cannot spell trivial without it). My point is: a bad Peer Mentor can make all the difference in the world. I only attended the activities and did what I was supposed to do because of some naïve belief that there were repercussions for non-attendance. The job itself was pretty menial but seemed fun.
Recently, I was surprised when I found out that none of the people within my fraternity were hired as Peer Mentors. Why they were not hired, I do not know. But just for fun let's look at some viable options for why they were not hired:
Maybe there is no reason and I feel slighted for a pretty mediocre reason? Maybe the applicants were not fit to be Peer Mentors? But I have a list of people that are Peer Mentors who would make a chill run up your spine, so that could not be the reason.
Maybe they do not feel people within my organization represent diversity?
I think that the applicants were very representative of the college and process of elimination alone dictates that the odds of their selection out of the applicants would be pretty favorable. Also, it could not be because of their fraternal affiliation because there are plenty of members of Kappa Sigma and Kappa Alpha who seem to be hired.
I believe that the exhaustive process that is employed to locate WC's next top mentor is frustrated by a desire for the school to pat themselves on the back for those they hire. They characteristically hire "late bloomers", which causes me worry for the students who will be assigned and expected to accept them as Peer Mentors.
I just do not think that the definition of diversity should be so expanded that the diverse people they hire are not even suitable to be in charge of others.
Please just show a little more forethought in who is chosen and think of who would do the best job before you try and exploit diversity. It has gotten better in my time here and I hope the campus soon actually reflects the world and not a demographic group for mayonnaise.
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