By Chang Liu | Focus/Design Editor
The International Student Association at Baylor invited Carlos F. Cardoza-Orlandi, a professor in the religion department, to share his experiences with being an international professor at Cashion on Thursday evening.
Cardoza-Orlandi said minority groups in the U.S. are framed by the tension between Blacks and whites, the so-called racial binary. People like him that are not in this range often seem to be invisible.
“When I taught at Columbia, I had a student who came up to me after my lecture, and he extended his hand and was going to pat my face,” Cardoza-Orlandi said. “I grabbed it. I told him don’t you dare touch my face. You wouldn’t do this to your white professor. He did apologize, and then he said, ‘You need to work on your English accent.'”
Cardoza-Orlandi said that he became aware that not all institutions are prepared to have international and minority people, and all institutions should build policies for international students to make it as comfortable as possible for their lives. One way he wishes they would better cater to these students is through cuisine, quipping that not everyone can have a piece of chicken and some potatoes.
Although Baylor has been working on clarifying their policies, he said there’s still a long way to go.
Cardoza-Orlandi recalled one time he was working on campus late, and despite his professional attire, a student had asked him to throw away the garbage. He said even the way the student had asked him was inappropriate.
Cardoza-Orlandi said that Baylor is good compared to other institutions, but he still recognizes that differences between local and international people still exist.
Shanghai junior and ISAB president Yijin Zhou coordinated the event and chose Cardoza-Orlandi to speak for his experience and expertise.
“We invited [Cardoza-Orlandi] today because he is a very well-known professor in the religion department,” Zhou said. “He also has a passion for international students because of his cultural background as a Puerto Rico professor.”
Xi’an, China, senior and ISAB External President Jingtong Hu shared similar sentiments and also hopes to raise awareness for the struggles international students face.
“We realize there are more and more international students [coming] to Baylor, and there are a lot of people [that] actually don’t have a religious background,” Hu said. “I think this will be a good way to talk about this professionally and help the students navigate it, understand it more and adopt it.”
