Rally urges anti-bias action

The cogs of Clark College machinery continue to grind as leaders and advocates hammer out new anti-bias policies in the wake of a “White and Proud” flier distributed on campus last month.

Clark students aren’t willing to wait. On Tuesday, an energized crowd packed around the school’s chime tower for a two-hour rally in support of diversity and unity.

“What do we want?” “Support!” “Who do we want it from?” “Administration!” was the shout-and-answer led by organizers of a newly formed Human Rights + Mother Earth club on campus.

It was a lively rebuttal to notions the initial flier — and a second, similar one sanctioned by Clark authorities to circulate last week, under current rules — had minimal fallout and could easily be shrugged off.

“Until today, I felt like a total pushover,” said Shelby Collins, 18, a Clark freshman. “Now, I’m going to stand up and say ‘no.’”

Collins joined a churning throng of about 80 students and instructors who braved raw weather that kept other sympathetic friends away, she said.

“People are going to get even more (diverse)” in the future, said Gina Bartucca, a 19-year-old second-year sociology student. She joined others who faulted Clark President Bob Knight and other leaders for seeming to wish the controversy away.

“If you’re trying to sweep it under the rug, it’s not going to work,” she told the crowd.

Knight and a top assistant said they’re making progress, in due order.

“They’re certainly entitled to their opinion on that,” said Knight, who said he visited the “productive, very civil” rally.

“I’m proud of the students, that they felt comfortable to get out there and do this,” Knight said. The issue has consumed much time and attention, he said. “I’m not sure I’ll ever convince folks, to make them more satisfied about my response,” he said.

The latest from Clark:

• Bob Williamson, vice president of administrative services, consulted with Clark’s Cultural Pluralism Committee to write a new bias-incident protocol that gives students or employees at least six campus contacts.

“We wanted to make sure that if someone reported an incident, they’d find someone,” Williamson said. That wasn’t the case last month when the first flier on behalf of the National Socialist Movement, which included a swastika, appeared.

• To directly address content of distributed materials, Knight directed a task force to find a sweeping policy “to protect freedom of speech and academic freedom, while also respecting diversity,” Williamson said.

Target date is March for the group of 11, which includes openly gay and racial minority members and Clark’s student body leader, though Williamson eyes a quicker finish. He is sifting through policies in use elsewhere, before a second meeting this month, he said.

• Nathan Goncalves, student author of the two fliers, went through proper channels to gain approval Nov. 1 for the second one, Knight said. Clark’s state-provided assistant attorney general advised that the new flier “does meet the threshold for free speech and doesn’t specifically threaten any individual or group,” Knight said. “So, we couldn’t deny it.”

Knight cautioned such material still might meet muster of a revised campus policy. “It may not be able to stop this sort of thing,” he said.

Pushing for more, critics said Knight and others need more of a wake-up call. One leader of Tuesday’s outdoor rally said Clark’s “mostly white, heterosexual male” leaders should take a women’s studies class to really comprehend levels of everyday discrimination.

“Seriously,” said Ash Lehmann, 25, former student body president. “Having this happen proved to me they really do need to do more. They need to educate themselves. I hope with this (rally), they realize that we are serious,” she said.

Coincidentally on Tuesday, nearby Gaiser Hall played host to Clark’s seasonal Club Day. Bright displays and balloons showed off an impressive mix of official school groups, from the German Klub, to Students for Christ, competitive gaming to dental hygiene clubs.

Reese Rolison, 17, a Running Start student, manned the Queer Penguins & Allies table. A sign-up list had nearly 20 names and e-mails, expanding a roughly 65-member contact list (whose core group numbers 15 to 20 persons, he said).

“Our president made it sound like (the flier controversy) only affects two or three students,” Rolison said. “We’re being told it doesn’t bother us. But there’s a lot more people than that at the rally.”

Still, he said, “I think eventually, the right thing will be done.”

Lending perspective to the unity rally was Marylynne Diggs, Clark English instructor. She took the microphone and sorted rallygoers by family history, sexual orientation, race and disabilities to illustrate their common interest.

“It’s a highly fraught subject,” Diggs said of Clark’s policy review. “It takes time. Things move slow here. But I’m glad to see students out here demanding action on the coldest, rainiest day of the year, so far.”

Howard Buck: 360-735-4515 or howard.buck@columbian.com.