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Normal University and the Story of Sam

Normal University is an Elite university that would rank alongside the likes of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton both in terms of academic prestige and cost. Normal was founded in !"# when education was limited to $hite men whose families% came from wealth and power. &n fact, in searching the history of Normal University the new President learned that the Normal family, thefamily that the institution was named after, had a role in the slave trade. $ith an earnest interest in moving the university away from its sordid past and into a future that will accept nothing less than inclusivity, diversity, and 'ustice for all, the president made a personal promise to retain, until graduation, every diverse student at Normal who came to the university under his watch. (herefore, he sent out an email to the entire first)year class asking them to email their story to him if they were thinking of not returning for their sophomore year, promising to make them an offer to stay they would not be able to refuse.(he first email he received was titled,

The Story of Sam

. *ollege is supposed to be a time and a space for students to be able to e+plore who they are and determine who they want to become. Unfortunately, for am it became a time in which she needed to hide who she was and dared not to dream of who she wanted to become.-espite having working class parents, am attended one of the most costly and academically acclaimed private, Engineering Prep high schools in her state, graduating at the top of her class. iven her astonishing academic achievement, Normal put great effort into recruiting her. Unfortunately, the financial aid package they offered her still did not come anywhere close to meeting her financial need. $orried about her parents not having the money, am told them she would attend a less costly institution. However, since she was going to be the first person in their family to attend college, her parents were committed to doing whatever it took, financially, to ensure their only daughter was able to attend her dream school.$hen am arrived at Normal, she learned that she had been paired to room with another first)year named (aylor. /lthough am thought (aylor was nice, it did not take her long to reali0e they had little in common. (aylor is the fourth generation in her family line to not only attend college, but to attend Normal University. Her father, grandfather, and great grandfather are all graduates of Normal and, as such, (aylor received a scholarship, earmarked for legacy students only, that covered her tuition, fees, books, and room and board. 1f course, given that (aylor comes from generational wealth, her family could have easily paid for her education.-uring the week, am could often be found helping (aylor with her math or science homework, but on the weekends they went their separate ways. am spent her weekends waiting tables at a nearby restaurant, while (aylor usually spent hers 'et)setting off to a resort, or attending a posh

social event with several of her similarly wealthy friends. (he one weekend during the year that am was going to be free from working, though, she overheard (aylor asking her 'et)setting friends if she could invite am to come along on their upcoming weekend get)a)way, but was sickened by the responses from (aylor%s friends. 1ne friend remarked, 2&sn%t she 'ust a poor 3lack girl from the hood4 $hat does she know about the finer things in life45 /nd another replied, 2what would she wear4 6eans, a t)shirt, and flip)flops4 he doesn%t even have the proper clothes, let alone the eti7uette to attend the affair we will be attending.5 /nd a third chimed, 2why would you want her tagging along8 don%t we give to enough charities to aid her and her people45enerally, am would not be bothered by the fact she and (aylor come from different social economic backgrounds, but it is the hurtful comments like those made by (aylor%s friend%s, that makes am feel she does not belong at a place like Normal University.Even if am does not have a lot of female friends on campus, the men find her very attractive and as a result she is constantly being asked out on dates. However, am does not interact romantically with the men who approach her because she is in a committed relationship with her girlfriend, 9eslie, back home. /lthough am embraces her se+uality, and was looking forward to being actively involved in the 93(: student organi0ation at Normal, shortly after arriving she learned the bulk of the funding that had been used to support the 93(: student organi0ation had been diverted to another cause so there were virtually no activities happening for one to get actively involved with. &n addition, a campus)wide protest against students being able to use the bathrooms that matches how they identify their gender instead of being forced to use the bathrooms that matched their assigned gender at birth had turned so violent that it made am feelunsafe and had prevented her from coming out. (hese types of protest reminded am of the stories her grandparents used to share about the 6im *row era where bathrooms, along with water fountains and lunch counters were places that were marked with 2$hites only5 signs in an attempt to keep 3lack people out. 1verall, am believed that Normal University was too steeped in past traditions for her to feel truly at home thereenerally, am would not be bothered by the fact that she was not publically out, but she told 9eslie, her girlfriend, that she was out and so now 9eslie is planning to come visit in a couple of weeks so they could both participate in the local Pride parade. am is finally reali0ing the profound effect of being in a homophobic climate. Particularly, she reali0es how it could be stunting her se+ual identity development and endangering her relationship with 9eslie. &t is the homophobic climate that makes am feel she does not belong at a place like Normal University.am is an engineering ma'or and although she could very well be smarter than every male in any of her math and science classes, the fact that she is one of only a few females in engineering renders her almost voiceless. am finds that she is rarely called upon by her male professors to answer 7uestions even though she may have been the first one to raise her hands. / couple of times she found her hand was the only hand that was raised to answer the 7uestion and her professor still did not call on her. am is also finding it increasingly more difficult to complete

assignments that are supposed to be done in teams because none of her male classmates want her on their team and there are never enough women students in any of her classes to have an all women team. (he times am had worked in teams with her male peers, they made her feel invisible. ;or instance, during one problem solving pro'ect meeting am made a recommendation as to how they could approach the problem but was completely ignored. (hen, a few minutes later when one of her male team members made the same recommendation, it was received with enthusiasm. (he first time this happened and am brought it to her teammates attention she was told to stop whining. (o make matters even worse, someone on her team sent an email to their supervising professor saying that am is not a good teammate because she does not know there isn%t an 2&5 in team. /lthough am had dreamed since middle school of getting her master%s degree after earning her bachelor%s degree, and then working in the engineering industry, she is really beginning to wonder if this is the industry she wants to be in after all.enerally, am would not be bothered by the fact that she is only one of a few women within her ma'or. /nd, as a student, she was not even aware that in the "" year history of her department a woman has never been promoted and tenured. /lthough several women, over the past two decades, have been hired as assistant professors, they were either denied tenure so they had to leave the university after only being there for si+ years, or they left the university before they went through the torturous tenure review process. &t is this same the to+ic environment within her male)centric department and the blatant disrespect for women that the department allows to persist that makes am feel she does not belong at a place like Normal University.3y the time the president reaches the end of am%s story he is speechless. &t takes him awhile to collect his thoughts, but once he does he decided he would offer her three options in order to get her to return to Normal for her sophomore year. /s am reviews each offer she cannot decide which one to take, because there are pluses and minuses of each one but she knows she must takeone. Ultimately, am decides to let your team to make the decision for her. $hich option would you chose4/. Normal University has 'ust gotten approval from the board of trustees to offer a degree in a new program called ocial 6ustice Education. &n order to attract new students, a private donor has given a hefty sum of money that the President can use to offer an interested student a ;ellowship.(he President decides he will offer the ;ellowship to am and this is what the ;ellowship contains< ;ull)tuition remission and fees8 room and board8 books8 and a monthly stipend of =""". &n addition, the ;ellowship will pay for a >

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year in the program for which am would be able to earn her ?aster%s degree in ocial 6ustice Education. ;urther, since am would be a pioneer in getting the program established at Normal, she would be sent to trainings all over the country as well as to Europe and /sia in an effort to internationali0e the program. (he only problem is the new program does not want students who have too many subordinate identities @they want to give an impression that students are allies for subordinate identities and not members of themA. ince am clearly identifies as female and 3lack, she would need to hide, or