Are minority opinions marginalized at Menlo, what can we do to fix this problem?

Rory Plewman | Co-Online Editor

On Thursday night over 50 people chimed in on a Facebook conversation regarding gender bias, and gender representation in student council, after a student posted a comment regarding the female to male candidate ratio in this years’ elections. The post also mentioned how even though there was an equal gender distribution for the potential candidates, only females were elected to the four student body positions.

What followed can only be described as a maelstrom, with people on both sides of the argument chiming in for well over 3 hours. The whole thread was 103 comments long, with participants from every grade. What struck me about this comment thread was the number of dissenters, those who stated that Menlo does not have a gender issue, as they were a very vocal bloc which I had not heard speak up before. These people felt more comfortable sharing their thoughts and feelings online than they did in public, which is indicative of a larger Menlo problem. Quite often the Menlo community is not supportive of minority viewpoints. I know numerous people who feel that while Menlo preaches inclusivity it does not cater to all ideologies or political stances.

This is why the Thursday night comment thread was special; it allowed all members of the Menlo community, regardless of opinion, to participate on a level playing field. Menlo should do more to cultivate these types of debates, and steer away from the current model, where 10 people sit around a circular table and simply affirm one and others beliefs. Discussion breeds change, dissenting opinions breed discussion, therefore dissenting opinions, if cultivated and managed in an orderly fashion, will breed change.

We will continue to follow this story with a video update coming soon.