About two dozen student leaders met last night to discuss the recently released President's Commission on Diversity and Equity report, "Embracing Diversity in Pursuit of Excellence."
Student Council President Noah Sullivan began by handing out a sheet that highlighted 10 of the report's recommendations.
After about 90 minutes of discussion, Sullivan then took an informal poll to see which of the report's recommendations the students felt were most important and should be addressed immediately.
The three recommendations that received the most votes were broadening the first-year experience to include a residential component of the Sustained Dialogue program, creating a clear system for reporting racial incidents, and supporting programs for peer mentorship education and providing cultural group assistance for the wide range of cultural groups at the University.
"My hope for this year and going forward is that if students can remain in the driver seat on issues of diversity and equity than we can make sure the student voice is heard," Sullivan said.
One of the major issues discussed was the report's proposal to split the non-Western perspective requirement into two requirements: Global Diversity and U.S. Diversity.
Some students argued that increasing this requirement would not help to increase diversity because students would simply find ways around them.
Other students, such as Asian Student Union president Todd Aman, said they believe classes are the best way to expose people to diverse views.
"I think the point of splitting the non-Western perspective is to address the real difficult questions of diversity that are missing within the current curriculum," Aman said. "Any type of U.S. diversity class would help to broaden the horizons of anyone at the University."
Several first years at the discussion cautioned against too much forced diversity training, however, saying many of the first years who had just gone through training took a lot of it as a joke.
"Many first years I talked to didn't even know that diversity was a problem until it was presented as one to them during orientation," said second-year College student Elizabeth Chu, a member of Sustained Dialogue.
Sullivan said he organized the dialogue as a way to gather students' opinions regarding issues addressed in the report.
"I thought it would be nice to sit down with some folks and have a conversation about both what we like and what is not in the report in order to set a student agenda for the year as far as diversity and equity is concerned," he said.
Former Council President Daisy Lundy, current Council Chief of Staff and a graduate advisor for Kaleidoscope, said students need to remain active in diversity efforts.
"It is really up to students to take the initiative on some of these problems," Lundy said. "I think that if students take an active stance on taking steps forward that the administration is going to move forward with us."
Read More
U.Va. sees 11 percent increase in early decision applications for Class of 2029
By Sophie Long | 5 days agoThe early decision application process is a binding agreement designed for students who have chosen the University as their top choice.
Corner businesses carry on through winter break despite few students on Grounds
By Nina Broderick | 6 days agoNot only are students customers of these businesses, but they are also employees.
Winter storm warning in effect for Charlottesville starting Sunday evening
By Cecilia Mould | January 5, 2025Reports from the National Weather Service predict that Charlottesville will experience snow, sleet and freezing rain beginning Sunday afternoon and lasting through Monday.
