Political divisiveness at BYU: Conservatives group speaks skeptically of race report response
Two student leaders for a conservative political group at BYU say the university is on the wrong path for addressing race and belonging issues on campus.
The BYU Conservatives group has been outspoken against various race-related issues on campus, including the creation of the Committee on Race, Equity and Belonging and whether or not professors should teach critical race theory.
Tommy Stevenson and Luke Hanson, both extensively involved in the BYU Conservatives club, said they’re concerned about the direction BYU is going with racial issues.
According to Stevenson, who manages the BYU Conservatives Instagram page, misunderstandings and a lack of open conversations may be contributing to political divide on campus, especially with topics such as race and racism.
Stevenson said while he believes racism exists at BYU, he doesn’t think the university’s response has been effective. Referring to statistics about racism such as the report on race and belonging, he said he doesn’t think the numbers show the full picture.
“I do think that there’s people who are racist, but in terms of people who act on that and affect different things,” he said. “I think it’s fewer and fewer and farther between than people think right now.”
Hanson, a fellow BYU conservative and the host of the “Red Pill, Blue Blood” podcast said with a large student body, surveys and reports like the one from the Committee on Race, Equity and Belonging can be a starting point but shouldn’t be the final say about racism on campus.
“Especially when it’s a large place like BYU or the USA, we really need to rely on the numbers,” he said. “But have, you know kind of like our empathy or the way that we interpret them done through our personal experience, because humans aren’t numbers.”
Hanson said he thinks addressing conflict and division is the first step to creating better race relations at BYU.
“I think that we all need to make an effort on both sides to bring the temperature down,” Hanson said.
Stevenson said he sees policies which treat people differently based on race as a problem, even if the treatment is positive.
“I want to treat everybody like an individual first,” he said. ” I think that putting your group identity that’s based on innate characteristics over your individual identity as a person is a recipe for disaster.”
Stevenson also said he disagrees with the idea that a person’s experience is completely dictated by their race.
“When people talk about things like the white experience or your Black experience or Asian experience or anything like that I say ‘No, it’s your experience,'” he said.
Stevenson said he thinks philosophies such as critical race theory limit people by reducing them to their race. He said it’s “way more damaging” to group people based on their skin color instead of recognizing individuals and their unique experiences.
Stevenson said he doesn’t see critical race theory as a feasible way to help people overcome racism because it pushes for equal outcomes between different groups regardless of individual circumstances.
“The only way it can happen is by force, and that requires an institution of government or something to do that and so that infringes on rights of others,” he said. According to Stevenson, focusing on providing equal opportunities for all would be more effective.
Similar to Stevenson, Hanson said policies that focus on race above everything else about a person do more harm than good.
“I think being trained to automatically think things about people just by the amount of melanin in your skin is a very harmful way to look at the world for both sides,” he said. “It gives you an inferiority/superiority complex.”
Hanson would like more open conversations on the topic, even if they’re uncomfortable.
“How about you tell me some actual stats and facts and statistics that don’t jive with my worldview, as you see it,” he said. “And I’ll give you something that doesn’t jive with your worldview as you see it and let’s live in that discomfort.”
When faced with different reports, statistics and individual stories about racism on campus, Hanson said it would be more productive for people on both sides of the debate to discuss solutions together.
“We might disagree on how to interpret what it means, but at least coming together and saying these are actual points of reality and we need to agree on all of these and then where do we go from there,” Hanson said.
Steven suggested that to more effectively address racism, it needs to be done in smaller, more personal interactions instead of on an institutional level.
Brian Kim, a bioinformatics student from South Korea said something similar about addressing belonging and inclusion in more personal ways. He said he thinks university clubs can be a good channel for helping more students feel included, especially in such a large student body.
“I think you have to kind of have these smaller bodies and communicate through those processes, those channels, in order to kind of really rope in everyone,” he said. “Unity is really, really achieved by when individuals are really being seen and they feel like their needs are very understood by the governing body as a whole.”
This year, Kim said he’s working with clubs for students who are Asian American and Pacific Islanders to help them find connections on campus and give them more of a voice in the community.
While addressing division on a university level is a “daunting” task, Kim said the university’s ability to respond to problems with inclusion and belonging will depend on how well administrators stay connected with and aware of the needs of the students.
“Once they get kind of fixed in a way and they aren’t really seeing the students or being with the students, understanding them, that’s when the unity is going to fluctuate down,” he said.