Student planned initiatives to end various types of discrimination.

To establish Georgia Tech’s views and disciplines for discrimination, the Georgia Tech Office of Human Resources set forth an anti-harassment policy. This policy is a detailed listing of the definitions, examples, and punishment for various types of harassment. Of the utmost importance, is that the policy states “Discriminatory harassment of any person or group of persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, or veteran status is prohibited”. By setting a firm policy for anti-discrimination, the Georgia Tech community has a zero tolerance for any person that shows disrespect or engages in any type of discriminatory behavior. In order to support this anti-harassment policy, many campus wide initiatives must be in effect to encourage accepting behaviors.

Similarly to that of society, Georgia Tech has put forth tremendous efforts to support persons of different races, genders, and sexual preference. Many a times, it is the actions of a few students that propel ideas to initiatives to campus wide events. To highlight these accomplishments, the Georgia Tech student publication, The Technique, showcases these events.  

 

In a 2008 article in The Technique, an event that promotes equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people was brought to the Tech campus. Due to the workings of a second year student and the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions, Billiee Pendleton-Park, the event venue was changing to the Georgia Tech campus so that students could become more aware of this initiative. The event focused on engaging students to relate to others emotions and to encourage the acceptance of diversity, equal rights, and tolerance of others.

Another article in The Technique discussed an event that raised awareness for a different type of discrimination, racial. The event was called March 1246 that was a campus wide walk to unite students and raise awareness to the low number of African American students. Despite the rain that accompanied the walkers, a nice turnout proved that Georgia Tech is supportive of such an initiative.

Lastly, it is important to note an opinionated piece written by a white, male Georgia Tech student in The Technique. In this piece, the author, Robert Combier, speaks to the presence of racial and gender based organizations. He talks about all of these organizations targeted at certain groups other than white males. For example, there are such groups as Society of Women Engineers, India Club, National Society of Black Engineers, etc.  However, the author does not necessarily support these groups but rather criticizes them for being racist and sexist. Is it really a matter of sexism and racism? I take these organizations as initiatives to acclimate non-white male students that have been discriminated in the past to the Georgia Tech community. I think this truly speaks to the progress of Georgia Tech and anti-discriminatory actions. Now, 50 years later, there are established groups for persons of different races and genders. And now, a white male is complaining about racism. Perhaps he hasn’t yet adapted to Georgia Tech’s progressive movement to incorporate others of different race, gender, sexual preference and end discrimination.

Thanks to student-planned initiatives such as these, Georgia Tech has made such great strides to becoming a discrimination free campus and student body. Much like the definition of a person has changed throughout time to include all persons with no limits based on gender, race, or disability, the definition of a student has changed as well to include people of all race, gender, or sexual orientation.

 

Resources

1.7 Anti-Harassment Policy. Georgia Institute of Technology :: Administration and Finance. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. <http://www.admin

fin.gatech.edu/human/action/010700.html>.

Huq, Yameen. "LGBT Event Promotes Equal Rights." The Technique 94.9 (2008). SMARTech. Web. <http://smartech.gatech.edu>.

Stephenson, James. "Students March for Diversity." The Technique 92.15 (2006): 1+. SMARTech. Web. <http://smartech.gatech.edu>.

Combier, Robert. "Racism Runs Amok in Student Orgs." The Technique 93.10 (2007): 9. SMARTech. Web. <http://smartech.gatech.edu>.