As a Woman of Color, I Don’t Feel Embraced by the King’s Community
The opinions reflected in this OpEd are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of staff, faculty and students of The King's College.
Three years ago I visited The King’s College as a prospective student. Coming from Miami, a city proud of its diversity, I figured a school in New York City would be the same. To my surprise, King’s did not reflect that in their student body. It left me thinking, would I ever feel like I belonged here as a woman of color?
As it turns out, no, I wouldn’t.
On Wednesday, March 30, King’s invited Roger Kimball to speak at the mandatory Interregnum Opening Lecture. Kimball’s speech was filled with prejudiced arguments, making many members of the student body feel embarrassed and ashamed of their institution.
At the Final Debate, the other mandatory event of the week, Dr. David Tubbs addressed Kimball’s speech as one of the many we’ve seen with “challenging views.” He asserted that as an institution, King’s encourages those like Kimball to have a platform to express their academic freedom.
I felt myself burn up in my seat as tears started forming in my eyes. I heard murmurs in the audience.
Dr. Tubbs continued, “In a word, The King’s College fundamental commitment is to the principle that debate or deliberation may not be suppressed simply because the ideas put forth are thought by some or even most of the members of The King’s College community to be offensive, unwise, immoral or wrong-headed.”
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I wanted to walk out of the church.
It’s one thing to invite a speaker with challenging views, but it’s another when those views are filled with hate and discrimination against people of color which represent a portion of the student body. It would not take long to find Kimball’s offensive tweets and retweets; a simple Google search would do. I couldn’t stand the thought of being in an environment that is not welcoming of people like me.
So I sat there, frozen, as Dr. Tubbs concluded his speech:
“All of you are entitled to your own views on Mr. Kimball’s lecture, but the hope would be that we would aim high in discussing that lecture — that we would try very hard in understanding the perspective of other people including Mr. Kimball himself.”
The student body applauded Dr. Tubbs and the rest of the night was a blur. I couldn’t tell you what either house debated on or whether one argument was better than the other. I couldn’t even tell you who was up on that stage debating and what house they belonged to.
I just sat there thinking, why am I paying The King’s College with my hard work, sweat, tears and money just to feel like my alternative worldview will never be considered? For them to support such opposing and polarizing views? They should be ashamed that anyone on their campus could feel so unwanted in the first place.
Emma Powell, Chair of the Interregnum Committee, expressed her shock at Kimball’s lecture at Great Debate.
“Many of you last saw me on Wednesday night, moderating the Opening Lecture. To tell you that I was in no way ready for that challenge is an understatement. And, for many of you, some of the words said were ones that we were not at all prepared for,” Powell said in her address to the student body. “I wish I could say that the hardest part was my public speaking nerves, but the hardest part was truly that I felt I failed to be mentally ready for that night.”
Other students took to social media to express their feelings.
Lexie Ludlam posted, “Roger Kimball was not open to listen to other’s ideas. He was not civilized. He villainized the opposing side and he ignored any question contradicting his opinions. If King’s supports healthy discussion and openness, then Kimball represents none of that. He only spread hate.”
As a student of color, I have never felt embraced by the King’s community. During my time here, I have seen a lack of Christian hospitality from the institution.
While serving on my house executive team my sophomore year, we attended Statesmanship before the semester began. One day, we had a discussion on race in the King’s community. The staff felt that to have the discussion safely and effectively, one of the breakout rooms would hold only people of color. Instead of being part of the discussion, we were separated from it.
No progress was made in this seven-minute breakout room. My peers and I were in shock when the staff announced that all minorities would be in their own breakout room. I felt betrayed being so openly ostracized. Some students cried.
“It was disheartening to see out of 40-plus positions in student leadership, only a handful were POC,” Jetrude Ragas said. “It’s worth celebrating those who are student leaders, so I didn’t understand why it was necessary to isolate the few from the many in the conversation surrounding race.”
Everyone should feel included and heard in heavy discussions such as this, and the only way to do that is if everyone is given the opportunity to share their thoughts with the entire leadership camp. Breakout rooms were not conducive for facilitating this discussion.
During Culture Day (an absurd attempt to make people feel included), a student hung a cardboard cutout around their neck of a saltine brand, insinuating a racial slur of their Caucasian race. I was shocked to see people laugh at this joke. If an Asian, Hispanic or Black person did the same, it would not have received the same praise. It was a mockery, and this student was never reprimanded.
As Dr. Tubbs said, this is not the first time King’s has invited a speaker with “challenging” views, insinuating that it wouldn’t be the last time either. Groups of the student body have been hurt many times in the past and will continue to be if King’s maintains this mentality.
There is a disconnect between the King’s staff who sign an oath of faith to work at the school and the student body who does not. For this reason, the student body is quite diverse in thought and ideology. Therefore, inviting speakers of many different views would help create a safe platform to express the academic freedom King’s claims to provide. Instead, I have only seen them push their conservative views on a weary student body.
I ask King’s to sit down and discuss how they can better the future of its students by being a more inclusive community that welcomes people from all walks of life — one that encourages open discussion and debate that isn’t marginalizing.
Sofia Valdes is the Executive Producer for the Empire State Tribune. She is a third-year student majoring in Journalism and minoring in Business Management. She currently interns for Bold TV, a tech and business news platform.