The Department of Education is making more changes to the federal student loan system that will help bring millions of borrowers.
(WSIL) - SIUC's Vice Chancellor of diversity, equity and inclusion, Paul Frazier, calls affirmative action a complex issue.
The SIU campus is a diverse one, one Frazier said, is part of an all-encompassing and globally useful education.
"I think it's essential. Twenty, thirty, forty years ago we were getting degrees to compete regionally, locally. Now you're trying to get a degree to compete globally," Frazier explained. "So, if you think about it from that context, then I need those experiences to broaden my horizons."
So, when it comes to affirmative action, Frazier said, he doesn't believe it should only be about race, but also about gender, sexuality and heritage. He said, it's all of those unique characteristics in one place that provide opportunity to grow.
"That's what college is all about. It's having those experiences and having the opportunity," said Frazier. "We might not take advantage of it, but the opportunity to learn about different cultures. This is an opportunity you may never have again - to work in a space, to be in a classroom with 20 different languages being spoken."
Frazier also said, it's making sure to provide everyone with the same starting off point, which for some, might require more equity.
"If we both have a book, but my book has missing words and is torn and is tattered, I'm never going to be able to learn the same information you're going to learn," Frazier explained. "What I'm saying is, we need everyone to have the opportunity to start on the same footing. But in doing so, we may have to pay a little more for this book to make sure we've got this book."
And Frazier said, politicizing issues perhaps isn't the best way to approach everything.
"We would be in better spaces if we hadn't politicized things that make us humans. Somehow, we just got away from treating people right. "
