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 1704 when
education was limited to White men whose families came from wealth and power. In fact, in
searching the history of Normal University the new President learned that the Normal family, the
family that the institution was named after, had a role in the slave trade. With 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 justice 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.
Therefore, 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.

The first email he received was titled, The Story of Sam.

College is supposed to be a time and a space for students to be able to explore who they are and
determine who they want to become. Unfortunately, for Sam it became a time in which she
needed to hide who she was and dared not to dream of who she wanted to become.

Despite having working class parents, Sam attended one of the most costly and academically
acclaimed private, Engineering Prep high schools in her state, graduating at the top of her class.
Given 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. Worried about her parents not having the money, Sam 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.

When Sam arrived at Normal, she learned that she had been paired to room with another first-
year named Taylor. Although Sam thought Taylor was nice, it did not take her long to realize
they had little in common. Taylor 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, Taylor received a scholarship, earmarked for legacy students
only, that covered her tuition, fees, books, and room and board. Of course, given that Taylor
comes from generational wealth, her family could have easily paid for her education.

During the week, Sam could often be found helping Taylor with her math or science homework,
but on the weekends they went their separate ways. Sam spent her weekends waiting tables at a
nearby restaurant, while Taylor usually spent hers jet-setting off to a resort, or attending a posh
social event with several of her similarly wealthy friends. The one weekend during the year that
Sam was going to be free from working, though, she overheard Taylor asking her jet-setting
friends if she could invite Sam to come along on their upcoming weekend get-a-way, but was
sickened by the responses from Taylors friends. One friend remarked, Isnt she just a poor
Black girl from the hood? What does she know about the finer things in life? And another
replied, what would she wear? Jeans, a t-shirt, and flip-flops? She doesnt even have the proper
clothes, let alone the etiquette to attend the affair we will be attending. And a third chimed,
why would you want her tagging along; dont we give to enough charities to aid her and her
people?

Generally, Sam would not be bothered by the fact she and Taylor come from different social
economic backgrounds, but it is the hurtful comments like those made by Taylors friends, that
makes Sam feel she does not belong at a place like Normal University.

Even if Sam 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, Sam does not interact
romantically with the men who approach her because she is in a committed relationship with her
girlfriend, Leslie, back home. Although Sam embraces her sexuality, and was looking forward to
being actively involved in the LGBTQ student organization at Normal, shortly after arriving she
learned the bulk of the funding that had been used to support the LGBTQ student organization
had been diverted to another cause so there were virtually no activities happening for one to get
actively involved with. In 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 Sam feel
unsafe and had prevented her from coming out. These types of protest reminded Sam of the
stories her grandparents used to share about the Jim Crow era where bathrooms, along with water
fountains and lunch counters were places that were marked with Whites only signs in an
attempt to keep Black people out. Overall, Sam believed that Normal University was too steeped
in past traditions for her to feel truly at home there

Generally, Sam would not be bothered by the fact that she was not publically out, but she told
Leslie, her girlfriend, that she was out and so now Leslie is planning to come visit in a couple of
weeks so they could both participate in the local Pride parade. Sam is finally realizing the
profound effect of being in a homophobic climate. Particularly, she realizes how it could be
stunting her sexual identity development and endangering her relationship with Leslie. It is the
homophobic climate that makes Sam feel she does not belong at a place like Normal University.

Sam is an engineering major 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. Sam finds that she is rarely called upon by her male professors to
answer questions even though she may have been the first one to raise her hands. A couple of
times she found her hand was the only hand that was raised to answer the question and her
professor still did not call on her. Sam 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. The times Sam had worked in teams with her male peers, they made her feel
invisible. For instance, during one problem solving project meeting Sam made a
recommendation as to how they could approach the problem but was completely ignored. Then,
a few minutes later when one of her male team members made the same recommendation, it was
received with enthusiasm. The first time this happened and Sam brought it to her teammates
attention she was told to stop whining. To make matters even worse, someone on her team sent
an email to their supervising professor saying that Sam is not a good teammate because she does
not know there isnt an I in team. Although Sam had dreamed since middle school of getting
her masters degree after earning her bachelors 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.

Generally, Sam would not be bothered by the fact that she is only one of a few women within her
major. And, as a student, she was not even aware that in the 100 year history of her department a
woman has never been promoted and tenured. Although 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 six years, or they left the university before they
went through the torturous tenure review process. It is this same the toxic environment within her
male-centric department and the blatant disrespect for women that the department allows to
persist that makes Sam feel she does not belong at a place like Normal University.

By the time the president reaches the end of Sams story he is speechless. It 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. As Sam reviews each offer she cannot decide
which one to take, because there are pluses and minuses of each one but she knows she must take
one. Ultimately, Sam decides to let your team to make the decision for her. Which option would
you chose?

A.

Normal University has just gotten approval from the board of trustees to offer a degree in a new
program called Social Justice Education. In 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 Fellowship.
The President decides he will offer the Fellowship to Sam and this is what the Fellowship
contains: Full-tuition remission and fees; room and board; books; and a monthly stipend of
$1000. In addition, the Fellowship will pay for a 5th year in the program for which Sam would be
able to earn her Masters degree in Social Justice Education. Further, since Sam 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 Asia in an effort to internationalize the program. The 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 them). Since Sam clearly identifies as female and Black, she would need to hide, or
at least not out herself as a lesbian. The President is not sure how receptive Sam will be to this
last point, but given the national trend of fortune 500 companies as well as other industries
interest in hiring diversity experts, he surmises that Sams future earning power will put her in a
much higher income bracket than the one she was in growing up.

B.

Concerned about the homophobic climate that Sam perceives hovering over Normal University,
the President decided he would give Sam an opportunity to change it. More specifically, if Sam
will return to Normal for her sophomore year, he will appoint her Student Ambassador for the
LGBTQ student organization, reinstate full funding to the organization, and also provide
supplemental funding for special programming. With funding, Sam would be able to do things
like organize informational trainings, bring a variety of LGBTQ speakers to campus, and even
reactivate the hilariously entertaining Thank You For Coming Out Improv Group, which is a
team of LGBTQ improvisers who support each other while telling stories of their coming out
process. The supplemental funds could be used for programming intended to educate the entire
campus community (faculty/staff/and students) on topics such as gender identity, gender fluidity,
cisgender privilege, and transgender oppression and trans inclusivity. The remuneration Sam
would receive for taking on this position would be only tuition remission and a monthly $1,000
stipend.

C.

Generally, engineering departments have many more male than female faculty members, but for
a department to have never given tenure (a permanent teaching position) to any of their female
faculty was despicable, from the Presidents perspective. In an effort to right this wrong, the
president pledged that if Sam would return to Normal University for her sophomore year he
would hire two female faculty members who had already been tenured, at a comparable
institution, so they would come to the engineering department at Normal already tenured. Since a
faculty search is a year-long process, this would mean that Sam would have to endure another
year in her department that could very well be similar to the year she had just experienced. But
he would make sure she was the student representative on the search committee, which would
mean Sam could almost cherry pick the female faculty members she wanted to work with. When
the person arrived on campus (the following year) Sam would be assigned to work with one of
them as a research assistant. Furthermore, it was a distinct possibility that if the research project
was supported by NSF (National Science Foundation) funding, Sam would be able to stay on the
research project long enough to complete her bachelors degree, as well as to earn her masters
degree in engineering. Although there is no monetary remuneration for being a student
representative on a faculty search committee, Sam would be allotted 10 meals a week at the
faculty dining club where many of the engineering faculty, as well as faculty from other
departments eat lunch daily. However, as a research assistant (the following year) Sams tuition,
fees, and books would be covered and she would receive a $1,000 a month stipend.