Is Cal Poly San Luis Obispo promoting racial discrimination?

September 17, 2021

Opinion by Ben Di Guglielmo

At Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s so-called “number 1-rated orientation in the nation,” on Aug. 6 the students were separated from their parents so they could attend a presentation titled “Mustangs for Inclusive Excellence.” While I was expecting a boring lecture on racial and gender equality, I was shocked when the presentation I heard was the farthest thing from it. They weren’t advocating for racial equality at all, in fact they explicitly condemned the concept.

Presenters and Cal Poly staff members Olivia Tran and Vania Ramirez arrived on the stage and projected the summary of what they would be discussing, the slide included topics such as “microaggressions” and “Intent vs. Impact.” The presenters stated that they would be discussing inclusivity, and how to contribute to an “inclusive” environment at Cal Poly.

The next slide, labelled “Key Terms,” contrasted the meaning of the words equity and equality, as the presenters emphasized the importance of the former at the expense of the latter. They stated that equal treatment for people of all races was not good, and that our institution ought to allocate more or less resources to students (treat people unequally) according to their race, in order to promote “equal outcomes.”

The next slide, titled “Unconscious Bias” claimed that all students were secretly guilty of being racist “deep in their subconscious,” and that the racism was so innate to their being that it is “activated involuntarily.”

The presenters then went on to state that this unconscious bias led people to perform “microaggressions” against minority populations. The example they presented of one of these so called microaggressions was the expression “I don’t see color, I’m colorblind,” claiming that “white people say the phrase when they are attempting to eliminate race from the conversation.

Denying obvious racial differences shows how people in advantaged groups have the privilege of choosing when and if they want to deal with topics such as race.” Apparently, Cal Poly now believes that it is racist to not consider the race of an individual as a defining characteristic.

Before concluding, they went on to state that another microaggression is the phrase “that’s so crazy,” because it is allegedly “ableist” to refer to things or people as crazy.

Finally, to wrap up their presentation, Olivia and Vania listed “five tips” to help students absolve themselves of their racist ways. The first step being to “understand your privilege.”

Now after experiencing that seminar, it seems to me that a public institution funded with tax dollars has proclaimed its support for offering increased resources for minority students, while denying those resources to white students. Behind all of the nice words and shallow justifications, the school has openly endorsed taxpayer funded racial discrimination.

Accompany that with the fringe ideas being presented as fact such as white privilege, unconscious bias, and microaggressions, and I suppose it is no surprise that many officials within the CSU system supported the 2020 proposition 16, which sought to eliminate the anti-discrimination clause of the California constitution, in order to provide opportunities for minority students that would be withheld from whites and Asians.

Furthermore, if the school really believes in the moral goodness of these ideas, why were the parents not attending the same seminar? After all, if concepts such as racial discrimination, white privilege, and unconscious bias are important enough to be promoted to the students of Cal Poly, why were they not important enough to even mention to the parents?

Is it because the school knows that the students are more impressionable than their parents? Is it because they know deep down that these ideas are wrong, and most people know it? Is it because they don’t want the parents to know of the racist values they are trying to instill among their children?

Media Relations Director Matt Lazier declined to answer any of these questions, and instead stated that “Cal Poly is committed to diversity, ‘equity’ and inclusion and creating a campus community that is welcoming and supportive for all students… . This effort includes infusing discussions of diversity, ‘equity’ and inclusion throughout the university’s academic, extracurricular, and professional programming.”

Note the use of the word equity (unequal treatment based on race) in the response, it seems that not only does Cal Poly endorse the ideas presented to me in that seminar, but they “infuse” it throughout all university programs.

Essentially, your tax dollars are used to indoctrinate your children into believing they are all secretly racist, privileged, and that certain minority races should be given more benefits under law than presumably less “disadvantaged” races such as whites and Asians.

Your tax dollars are being used to fund a widespread indoctrination effort of racist and un-American ideas in the youth, all while they politely shuffle you into the other room so you remain blissfully unaware.

Ben Di Guglielmo, 18, is an incoming freshman at Cal Poly. Di Guglielmo grew up in Riverside and graduated from Riverside Polytechnic High School earlier this year.