I have heard many times over the last week that I will never understand anything related to other cultures because I am not a minority, according to the popular definition of the term. Most recently, Ms. Veleisa Patton has intimated that I am blithely making statements based on inaccurate assumptions with no basis in truth. I am here now to provide the proof to back up my previous assertions and also respond to her comments regarding the university.

Ms. Patton claims that no one caters to incoming minority students when they arrive at SMU. I have five words for Ms. Patton: Department of Multicultural Student Affairs. The DMSA represents minority interests. It does not represent the interests of the white students on this campus. I don’t think it was created to do so, anyway. My point is that minorities have an entire department devoted to them. The DMSA holds a Minority Orientation. Do whites have anything comparable? No. It’s not like Mustang Corral is insufficient for minorities, either. The featured event at Mustang Corral is the diversity session, and it is billed as the most important event. I would know. I went as a freshman and last year as a leader. The diversity session is the university’s attempt to make everyone realize that they must accept that everyone is different from each other. I think it’s an honorable goal.

The university’s support for minorities doesn’t end there. It continues with the Office of Institutional Access and Equity, which handles affirmative action issues, the Diversity Education Program, etc. There is CONNECT, which specifically targets incoming minorities with the goal of helping them transition into university life. I suppose Ms. Patton might have missed out on these opportunities.

Let’s discuss Ms. Patton’s speakers example. I don’t really think highlighting Ms. Bushnell and comparing her to Ms. McMillan and Ms. Valdes-Rodriguez is a valid argument. I think I need more proof than one example. Ms. Patton is basically claiming that the university could never choose Ms. Bushnell or someone would call their judgment into question. If this is a pattern, I support bringing in either of the other authors mentioned. Ms. Patton has failed to prove some intentional slight on the part of the university.

I’m pretty sure Barack Obama is slightly busy with his duties as senator from Illinois. I don’t think he has the time to fly to Dallas to speak. Besides, Colin Powell has a better resume than Obama since he has a lifelong career of service to America and has held numerous top positions in government. Additionally, if I understand the Tate Series correctly, it’s the big donor money that brings speakers to campus. It really isn’t the job of the university. This is where great people like Linda and Mitch Hart come in. I suggest Ms. Patton talk to one of them. I really think Ms. Patton objects to Colin Powell because of his ideology even though he’s a moderate and doesn’t fit her “conservative campus” view.

I don’t have space in this article to answer all of Ms. Patton’s strange assumptions, but I will finish with her assumptions about my care for minorities at SMU. I find her false assertions interesting because she claims I make the same assertions she is guilty of. I’m glad she contacted me before running this story. Wait – I have never met her or talked to her in my life. In fact, I have been getting outside of this “bubble” she claims I live in. I stood outside Hughes-Trigg last week for upwards of five hours debating other students, mostly minorities, about special interest seats. I have been to an ABS meeting and a CHAS meeting. I spent an hour in the DMSA last year discussing race issues with members of the minority community, and Roberto Espinosa, Israel Scott and others can vouch for me. That doesn’t necessarily make me an authority on minority issues, but let’s compare this with Ms. Patton’s interest in learning about conservatives. Ms. Patton has not been to a YCT meeting. I was chairman last year and am heavily involved this year, so I can prove that she hasn’t.

I don’t know how Ms. Patton can pass off as virtual fact that I won’t try to understand the views of minorities on this campus. I already have, I am and I will continue to have dialogue with them for the rest of my time as an SMU student. Ms. Patton is a little behind. I suggest she catch up.

Reed Hanson is a junior engineering major. He may be contacted at [email protected].