SAN FRANCISCO ― When Dr. Kathleen Wong(Lau) was recruited for a job as a chief diversity officer, she initially declined to apply. She felt fulfilled in her current post digging deep into diversity and inclusion issues at the University of Oklahoma (OU), where she has been for barely two years.
But upon learning that the job vacancy was in northern California, where she grew up and where many of her relatives still live, she changed her mind. Not only did Wong(Lau) apply, but she was hired to become diversity chief at San Jose State University (SJSU).
Not that the job is any cakewalk, however.
SJSU has been rocked in recent years by revelations that, in 2013, a Black freshman was subjected to a string of hazing incidents — including a U-shaped bicycle lock being clamped around his neck — by White students living in the same dorm as the freshman. The Whites, who have since been expelled, nicknamed him “three-fifths” and “fraction,” references to when African slaves were each counted as three-fifths of a White person for the purpose of giving additional congressional representation to slave-holding states when in fact slaves were still regarded as property.
Revelations of the abuse and bullying in the dorm sparked student protests, complaints and community outrage about an environment that they say is hostile to Blacks, who make up only 3 percent of the 33,000-student enrollment. This year, a jury that had no African-Americans convicted three White defendants of misdemeanor battery against the Black student but did not reach guilty verdicts on more serious hate crime charges. One student received probation and the other two were each sentenced to 30 days in jail.
“I understand the urgency, the high, material expectations, all of it,” Wong(Lau) said of her new job, in a recent interview with Diverse. “I’m not fearful of it.”
As part of applying for the chief diversity officer post, Wong(Lau) visited the campus in March, about a week after the trial. There’s reason to believe she fully grasps the gravity of the circumstances and festering racial tensions at SJSU.
