The Quest for Inclusion: Cultural Competency & K-State’s Women’s Basketball

Just a few minutes ago I received the following picture via the International Student Forum's list serve:

I admit I'm quite cynical yet as my friends and colleagues have stated, this is GOOD. I'm glad they are being proactive. I'm sure this will just be another notch on their belt. Some people may never know the reasoning's, but I'm glad they took it a step forward. Now let's hope some cultural competency trainings have occurred for students & staff!

Some people have stated:

"I appreciate them working towards inclusion. Thanks for the update!"
"Yaiiii"
"Way to go! It pays to voice your opinion in a civil manner"

I don't know if I ever admitted but I was SUPPPPPPPPPPPEEERRR nervous to even voice a complaint.

 

It was disheartening to hear from a colleague that, they thought I made the wrong move. That I was just stirring the pot. I should have been discreet with my complaints. That person even said they didn't wish to be associated with someone who was an activist.

 

That hurt.

 

a lot.

 

It was also crazy to hear a POC (person of color) say this but I tried to tell them, I wasn't stirring the pot.

 

Throughout this time, I've had many periods of regret and rethinking my actions.

 

Am I an activist? Am I a feminist? What am I? How did I get like this?

 

Isn't it crazy. The words people can say that makes you rethink your entire livelihood lol

 

I'm not over the comment the person made. I'm still confused.

 

I typically have a foot in either aisle. I like to be neutral but I do have a reputation for speaking out.

 

I just have to accept that people will always label me a certain way, depending on my words/actions.

 

So I might be an activist.

 

There are worse things I could be called.

RESPONSE: The lack of Cultural Competency during K-State’s Women’s Basketball Game

**Editors Note: below you will find two responses from my previous blog entry**

"Thank you for your recent email regarding your attendance at the women’s basketball game Saturday evening.  We are glad that you could attend and appreciate your feedback.

 

The video promotion you referenced in your letter was an unscripted interaction between two of our women’s basketball student athletes, including Leti Romero who came to Manhattan from Las Palmas, Spain.

 

We understand that the context of the dialogue between teammates could be misunderstood and apologize that you were offended.

 

K-State Athletics will not be playing the video in question at future games.

 

We hope that you will be able to join us in Bramlage Coliseum again this season. Go Cats!"-Associate Athletics Director, Ticketing/Fan Strategies

"I'm so sorry that you had an unpleasant experience at the Women's basketball game last Saturday due to the video you mention in your email.  As Scott Garrett, Associate Athletics Director, indicated in his email to you, the video was unscripted.  With this said, K-State will do our best to be more proactive in our modeling of behavior and actions to enhance the experience of all of our stakeholders.

I truly believe that this was an oversight; however, we appreciate your bringing this to our attention.  We also appreciate the efforts you have spear-headed on campus to help all graduate students through the HUES organization.

I hope to see you at a Women's or Men's basketball game soon. Good day." - Chief of Staff, President's Office 

**Editors Note: #kanyeshrug ... So I decided to reach out to the multicultural undergrads and make them aware..... below is the letter I sent them.... **

I wanted to bring your attention to an issue I encountered, last weekend during the women's basketball game. In the video clip, two female players are listening to music; one member begins to sing in Spanish to a popular song.

The other member interrupts her says “"I'm sorry but this is America..."--- the song is changed to a popular Beyoncé song. Watching the clip I was shocked and appalled.

The administration (Associate Athletics Director & Chief of Staff, of the President's office) did respond to my complaint and have stated they will remove the video.

While I expected this response (and found moderate issue with the statement), I did want to make sure the multicultural undergraduate student body is aware of the lack of cultural competency that can occur at K-State (intentional and unintentional).

If an incident occurs that makes you feel uncomfortable, I urge you to write a complaint to those in that department and to the President's office. Remember, that this too is your campus and being silent is not an option.

For more information about my complaint and the administrations response, please click the below links:

http://87pages.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-lack-of-cultural-competency-during.html
http://87pages.blogspot.com/2014/01/response-lack-of-cultural-competency.html
regards,
Star Lengas
Graduate Student
 

The lack of Cultural Competency during K-State’s Women’s Basketball Game

**Editors note: Whew! So I just sent off my "complaint" email to the K-State Athletics, K-State President's office, K-State Student Life, K-State Diversity Office, and the K-State newspaper -Collegian. Quite interested to hear their response**

To Whom it may concern,

 On, Saturday January 18, 2014 I attended my first K-State athletic event. As a graduate student and a member of the Fort Riley community it was exciting to see the K-State Women’s basketball team, excel and conquer against their rivals. Throughout the crowd I saw a sampling of the diverse students and community members and it was awesome, that said individuals could come together for a sporting event. Unfortunately my enthusiasm was dashed during a video clip of “name that tune.”

If you would allow me to paraphrase: In the clip, two female players are listening to music; one member begins to sing in Spanish to a popular song. The other member interrupts her says “"I'm sorry but this is America..."--- the song is changed to a popular Beyoncé song. Watching the clip I was shocked and appalled.

I immediately looked to my husband who is both a Naturalized American citizen and an active duty member of the Army, all he could say was, “Welcome to Kansas.” I am unsure of the response of the domestic and international diverse student/community members, but I was left with a distasteful feeling.
 

 As an educator, I find the lack of oversight and cultural competency quite problematic. Whether or not this was intentional, someone on staff should have been cognizant that the verbiage was highly offensive.
 

 Perhaps, this is a common video played at all games and no one has complained, so you all thought it was fine. I take issue with the propaganda, that speaking a language other than English, is un-American. This message is divisive and not an accurate representation of K-State, especially as the face of the college student is rapidly changing.
 

 According to a K-State Today article, fall 2013 had "the most diverse student body in university history includes 3,458 who identify as black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, Hawaiian/Pacific islander or multiracial. In fall 2012 that number was 3,379... [Fall 2013] had more Hispanic students [and in] "fall 2013 --2,106 students came to K-State from more than 100 countries. That's a one-year increase of 61 international students."
 

Therefore, to witness passive bigotry in the form of ‘entertainment’ is mindboggling and wholly unacceptable. I have attended PWI (predominately white institutions) for my bachelors and now for my master’s degree, and I am often asked by other POC’s (people of color) my opinion about K-State; “is it diverse?” “Is there a place for us?” “if I knew what I know now, would I go there?”… Unfortunately, I don’t feel like a Wildcat nor have I found my space yet.

Instances like last Saturday promulgate my feelings of being “other” as this ‘entertainment’ provides a realistic picture into the culturally insensitive nature of various K-State members.

I'M GOING VEGAN: Day 5

Today was my best today by FAR since I've started this challenge. It's becoming a lot easier to modify my meals and supplement my snacks. Eating clean, can be quite filling.

Before I discuss my day. I just want to reflect on what I learned while eating abroad. I mean it is ThrowBackThursday hehe

Breakfast can be WHATEVER you want it to be. The first week in Korea, for breakfast my roommate served me rice, kimchi, and seaweed (nori). I was like "wheres the bacon" and she said we can have samgupsyal later tonight. LOL In Korea basically anything goes for Breakfast, soups, rice, kimchi, noodles, ramen, etc. I truly appreciate that I wasn't "restricted" to a particular food image when I woke in the morning.

As such since Day 2 of the challenge, I've been drinking soup every morning. Not a bowl but a small jar of soup, I preheat the water and pour the soup mixture in the jar, and I'm ready for the day.

It's refreshing and I'm not starved. Nor do I have to rush around to try and select a particular "American breakfast item"... because let's be real our breakfast typically involves breads, meats, eggs, cheese, milk, yogurt, butter, etc. I don't have time for that and I don't even like yogurt.

__

Meals:Instant Tofu Miso Soup Soybean Paste
Steamed White Rice, Homemade Potato Soup w/ 1 potato dumpling,and beefless tips
1 TBSP peanut butter
Veggie Crumbles, soy cheese, pico de gallo, tomato, black beans, steamed rice, fresh collard greens, and tortilla chips

Water: 64oz  -- working to hit 96 oz before I go to sleep

No Workout.

Finally, if you're looking for meat substitutes, this is what I have bought so far. 

IM GOING VEGAN: Day 1

Ahhhhh

Today was the first day and it was going good until it wasnt. I woke up today determined so see it through. And I did don't get me wrong. It just became a tiny struggle.

So how did I hear about this challenge?? Well Beyonce of couse. Bey posted the #22dayvegan challenge to her IG and of course the girls went wild. I've been wanting to do a revamp on my clean eating ESPECIALLY after these holidays. This challenge is all about cutting out meats-poultry-seafood-dairy products. Yesterday while grocery shopping I was eyeballing all the ingridents. If it had milk/cheese/egg whites I tossed it from my cart.

Do you know how many foods have eggs in it?! yeesh. I even had to toss back "vegeitarian/vegan" products (Morning Star/Boca Burger). My grocery store run was about 70$ -- mostly veggies. I even bought brussels sprouts... o_0 ... If I buy Okra than you'll know I'm desperate lol

I am also working on building my core -- I'm not following any regiment or workout program. I'm just going to do what feels natural ... however I am going to implement Treadmill Running & Yoga at least once a week.

I have a daily water goal of 128oz.

Day 1:

Workout:
Focus T25 -- Dynamic Core & Stretch

Meals:
Rice, Kimchi, Seaweed
Apple
Tofu Tortilla Soup, Rice, Tortilla Chips

Water:
96oz (in progress)

To stay updated on my progress SUBSCRIBE to my Blog & Follow me on Instagram @87pages

Death.

Happy 2014.... sorta.

These past few weeks have been a haze and I became that girl. That girl who tries to hide in the background during pictures. No one truly commented, just a look here and there with a shrug.

This isn't a "new me" type of post.... just a new awareness.

I'm done with hashtags that advertise false accomplishment.

Back to the drawing board.

Daily Accountability.

-45 by July.