Chancellor Nancy Cantor met with Ronald Taylor, the organizer of last week’s sit-in protest, on Monday morning about concerns regarding the university’s support of minority students.

The meeting is the latest part of Taylor’s campaign to highlight the issues students of color face on campus. This started with his “Healing the Scars” forum, held in February, and the Schine Student Center sit-in protests, which addressed how the university needs to be more effective when speaking to minority students, he said.

“I’ve walked into multiple situations where I have to adjust myself because I know I’m talking to people who are not used to my ‘blackness,’” Taylor said. He added that professors have asked him for the “black perspective,” which he believes comes from antiquated attitudes regarding race.

The meeting addressed issues such as the lack of interaction between student groups; how faculty and students interact with students from different backgrounds; and the future of Cantor’s initiatives to promote diversity.

The university already provides resources such as the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Slutzker Center for International Services, but certain problems still persist, Taylor said.

“What we provide are some really good quality resources, but our university is changing, the world is changing, so you can’t ever say, ‘OK, we’re done,’” said Thomas Wolfe, senior vice president and dean of student affairs. “That’s not even in our vocabulary.”

Taylor brought four students with him to the meeting. Hand-picked to represent major student groups, they included representatives from the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the Student Association and Latino organization La L.U.C.H.A.

Cantor, Wolfe, Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina and five other officials represented the administration and the university’s major divisions.

The meeting hashed out the basic framework for several different initiatives. But other than planning future meetings between the administration and Taylor in the fall, a definitive schedule was not created.

At the meeting, Taylor suggested incorporating conversations about various minority groups on campus and the issues they face into the freshman forum class, a mandatory course for students in the College of Arts and Sciences. Cultural sensitivity training, which would educate faculty on appropriate ways to approach conversations about race, is also in the works, he said.

The training would involve students speaking to faculty about problematic responses and situations, Taylor said.

Students at the meeting also suggested establishing a closer relationship between the National Pan-Hellenic and greek councils. The councils come together for one week, but only for games of softball and basketball, Taylor said. Instead, Taylor suggested using the week to build bridges and create dialogue between the two councils.

Cantor and Taylor agreed the term “self-segregation” had been used too loosely, stigmatizing students who are heavily involved with certain student groups.

Student groups provide cultural niches and bonds for minority students, but the administration and student representatives said they wanted to encourage more interaction among these groups.

This interaction is especially valuable since most of the faculty and staff members come from homogeneous backgrounds, Wolfe said.

Both Wolfe and Taylor said they’re confident that the future of Cantor’s initiatives will be secure after her departure at the end of next year.

The administration, Wolfe said, is committed to these programs, which he said are well established within the university.

During the last two months, Taylor said his strategy involved gauging friends’ and student organizations’ reactions, then working his way up to academic departments. Now, Taylor plans to expand his reach to get his message across to complete strangers who might not agree with him.

“My target is all the students of SU. But am I going to get that sample? No,” he said.

Although organizing the forum and sit-in protest have taken away sleep and added stress, Taylor said, he is encouraged by the rapid changes he has seen and the university’s support.

Said Taylor: “There are things happening in eight weeks that tend to take eight, 10 years or longer to happen.”

Published on April 30, 2013 at 12:32 am