Privilege. Maybe you are like me, and your first struggle is whether to spell it “priviledge” or “privlege,” until you realize both are wrong and you thank the inventor of spellcheck. But orthography aside, what does the word mean? Privilege is a sensitive subject here at the University. As I walk to class every day, I cannot help but sum up my peers as they pass me. I wonder about their stories, upbringings, aspirations, favorite foods and greatest fears. Unfortunately, I unfairly judge them; I construct false narratives based at first on their visual appearances. Over time I pad these narratives with new insights after brief encounters in the Starbucks line or by the dumpling truck. This is the construct in my head of “them.”
Yet, for all of my stereotyping, I frequently fail to take their narratives a step further. How have aspects of their identities affected their experiences? What privileges, rights, benefits, immunities, exemptions, advantages or special opportunities do they enjoy? Or from which of these are they denied? The truth is there are different aspects of our identity society values more than others. Here at the University many of us fall into the trap of blanketing the student body as one. We assume a visually present, wealthy cohort of our student body means the entirety of the University community is well-off. We assume we all should or can take 24+ credits after meeting one kid who is researching cures for cancer while crushing a 4.0 GPA with 27 credits. We assume that for everyone college means having a “good time” Thursday, Friday, Saturday and sometimes Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Maybe, because of certain privileges, some of us do fall under multiple majority identifiers and, as a result, forget about privileges not everyone on Grounds gets to share.
A few years ago most diversity workshops, forums and groups focused on eight main identifiers — ability, age, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status or class — to help individuals and communities evaluate their wealth of diversity. What would I look like according to these identifiers? I am a 21-year-old heterosexual female woman with no serious mental or physical handicaps. I am Caucasian-American and grew up in a well-off, Christian home. I covered those eight identifiers within two sentences, yet I am sure you as a reader still lack an understanding of who I am as an individual. What do these identifiers mean? How do they provide me with certain privileges? How do they play into my everyday life? Do they reflect on my character?
The Minority Rights Coalition is asking these and similar questions at their Unpacking Privilege event co-sponsored with Sustained Dialogue this Wednesday, Dec. 2 from 6-7:30 p.m. in Newcomb Ballroom. MRC is focusing on individual student stories — including one of Shaunn Warmuth’s pieces that was featured in Black Monologues — and then inviting participants through dialogue to explore their own privileges and the personal and societal implications of those privileges. I am curious to see whether this event takes the topic of privilege further than the surface level of naming main identifiers. I encourage you to join me to learn more about the various forms of privilege found here on Grounds and to hopefully help unpack privilege at the University.
Victoria Hanway is a third-year in the Batten School.
Read More
EDITORIAL: Celebrating and reflecting on The Cavalier Daily’s independence
By Editorial Board | YesterdayOur independence grants us the ability to ask the hard questions and to say what University representatives cannot.
ARRAS: U.Va. must revise the Sexual Assault Prevention Training module
By Aoife Arras | 2 days agoIn addition to its failures in interactivity, the module lacks details specific to the University and discusses key concepts in universal terms.
EDITORIAL: Pedestrian safety is an institutional imperative
By Editorial Board | 4 days agoAmid a national crisis of pedestrian safety, Charlottesville and the University are also struggling to properly maintain pedestrian safety.
