Controversy sparked talks on racial bias

Ask Vihang Vispute and his two friends about a racially insensitive math question that sparked a national controversy last month at Bellevue Community College, and you'll get a serious conversation.

Raised voices. Aggressive hand motions. And a discussion that ranges from the accuracy of stereotypes about East Indians and black people to racist references in pop songs and whether the whole test-question issue should have spread so far off campus.

This is the silver lining that BCC leaders describe three weeks after the matter broke.

The math question and media attention spurred hundreds of angry e-mails to a school that has won awards for its diversity and international programs and was once named by Rolling Stone as one of the best community colleges in the country.

No easy answers

There are no easy answers to what happened, leaders say, but at least people are talking. With the school's second annual Multicultural Festival planned this weekend, students and faculty are discussing topics they wouldn't have touched before.

"You have a teaching and learning moment for the college at the same time," said Faisal Jaswal, the assistant dean for student programs. "This gives people a chance to very critically think about some very serious obligations" they have in a multicultural community.

President Jean Floten said this week that the incident has taught the school "extraordinary lessons," including an examination of the school's values, but the BCC community must "emerge from all this turmoil sounder for the pain."

The math question presented a scenario about "Condoleezza" throwing a watermelon off the roof of a federal building. School officials have said this demeaned U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and employed a racist caricature of blacks eating watermelons that dates to the 1800s.

About two years ago, math instructor Peter Ratener inserted the name "Condoleezza" into the question that originally referred to Gallagher, a comedian who smashed watermelons as part of his act. Ratener publicly apologized last month and said he used "Condoleezza" because more students would recognize the name.

Ratener will be disciplined, spokesman Bob Adams said. Some leaders in the black community have said he should be fired.

BCC has announced several changes since the controversy, including creating a vice president of equity and pluralism, as well as a campus ombudsman and increased funding for training.

Students and faculty have also gathered for several brown-bag discussions on race, not to mention the countless informal conversations around campus. "We want the discussions to lead to understanding," said Cora Nixon, chairwoman of the school's Diversity Caucus.

Leaders' suggestions

Some campus leaders said the college could still do more to recruit and hire minority faculty and staff. Fourteen percent of the full-time faculty are members of a minority group, compared with about 30 percent of students.

Another notable aspect of the campus issue, according to students and staff members, is that the math question was used by students and teachers over a two-year period without a complaint.

This raises issues about whether people had a safe place to air their concerns, or whether they even noticed the stereotype.

The question "has been kicking around that long, and that's the part that really upset me," Nixon said.

Several students interviewed this week said they were not aware of the stereotype referenced in the question. And most of those who were aware said the reaction to the test question was overblown.

Ratener made a mistake, but "things are getting too drastic, with people wanting to get angry about every little thing," said Shadi Shaw, 20, of Seattle.

The fact that so many people didn't know the stereotype proves that it's not widely used anymore, said Lisa Davis, 21, of Seattle. Bringing the caricatures into public discussion is "how these stereotypes stay alive in the first place."

Noni Stowitts, 27, of Issaquah, disagreed. "You need to know it," she said. "It's part of our history."

And the discussion continues.

Ashley Bach: 206-464-2567 or abach@seattletimes.com