This guest column was written by Olivia Hagel ’16

Last semester, the Whitman community was filled with significant buzz surrounding issues of racism and privilege on campus. And now, well into 2014 and a few short days from this year’s Power and Privilege Symposium, students continue to raise important questions, including questions about being politically correct.

Being politically correct generally means avoiding speech and actions that can exclude, offend or marginalize certain individuals or groups. However, being politically correct hasn’t created an inclusive, safe and equal atmosphere for all individuals. The Whitman community needs to replace our language and understanding of political correctness with that of respectful engagement with others.

While many members of the Whitman community still encourage political correctness, a growing camp of students is speaking out about its limitations. Surely, using language and acting in a way that is inclusive to all people isn’t the failure of political correctness. Rather, its failure is the negative culture that it fosters on campus. Students are claiming that political correctness is stopping discussions of race in their tracks, and I agree. Individuals fear they will say something perceived to be politically incorrect and be labeled a racist, so they refrain from talking about issues of race altogether. This silence can actually perpetuate racial tensions that being politically correct tries to avoid.

However, I don’t think the solution to this silence is for everybody to limit their discussions surrounding race and other hot topics on campus. We cannot return to using politically incorrect terms, such as racial slurs, or to acting in politically incorrect ways, such as adopting parts of another culture in a way that trivializes that culture, because those things can stomp on a group or individual’s identity and history. It seems we have to choose between a politically correct culture that doesn’t talk about or solve issues in society, and a culture that rejects being politically correct yet still perpetuates issues, such as racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism and ableism.

This seems like a lose-lose situation, since important issues are not being solved with either of these choices.

But wait, there is a third choice! If Thomas Edison threw away his theory for a light bulb when it didn’t work the first time, the world would be a lot dimmer. We need to treat political correctness as a theory that we disproved. Instead of throwing it out, we need to alter our language and understanding of being politically correct.

Today’s notion of political correctness focuses more on saying and doing what society tells us is politically correct rather than actually understanding and embracing why certain types of speech and actions are problematic. People are often politically correct not for the sake of others, but rather so they can dodge being called racists, sexists or bigots. In this way, political correctness has become selfish. The point of being politically correct should be to respect and protect those who we are engaging with. In order to affect this change, I propose a move from politically correct to respectfully engaged.

What would being respectfully engaged actually look like? Firstly, respectful engagement requires actual engagement between individuals or groups. Silence has no room in respectful engagement. Also, the most important part about these engagements is respect. If we respect others and ourselves when engaging with each other, we may be able to avoid the hurt, exclusion and inequality that our language and actions can cause.

Following are three actions I intend to work on in order to become respectfully engaged on campus: 

1. Speak and act respectfully. I will recognize and respect the person I am engaged with as a human who will likely make mistakes and has a complex history and emotions. If we work to practice respect for others when talking about issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, class or disability, we may be able to reduce the hurt, exclusion and inequality on campus.

2. Listen respectfully. Whether in a social or academic setting, another person may speak or act offensively, and I will respect them regardless of their behavior. I will point out an indiscretion or racist action that I observe and discuss rather than attack. Perfection is hardly a human trait––there is a difference between doing or saying something racist and being a racist.

3. Respect myself. I will recognize that I am capable of and probably likely to make a mistake at some point. If somebody points out a personal indiscretion, I will work to interrogate my own thinking and actions before I put my defenses into full force. Maybe I made a mistake, and that is okay.

I invite you to join me in these efforts and keep me accountable. My hope is that respectful engagement will develop further as we all create our versions of what it means to be respectfully engaged.+