More than 50 students filled the Brown-Lupton Student Center Lounge Thursday to hear concerns TCU’s NAACP chapter has with diversity on campus.The forum was a follow-up to last year’s April meeting during which the chapter began its campaign for diversity awareness.
“The NAACP at TCU has collaborated the Chancellor (Victor) Boschini and we are at the point of implementation and action,” said Allison Robinson, vice president of the chapter. “We need student participation from all organizations in the TCU community.”
Erica Parker, president of the chapter, said she wants to see more minority student organizations and funding for these proposed organizations. She also called for a more inclusive view of minorities among TCU students.
The NAACP chapter proposed more minority representation in Homecoming week, Howdy Week and Parent’s Weekend.
The panel leading the forum also encouraged all students, not just minority students, to attend Student Government Association meetings.
“We need to attend these meetings because it is hard to implement programs and make changes if no one participates and attends meetings,” Robinson said.
She also addressed “inaccurate” minority representation in TCU’s brochures and the insensitivity of the TCU organizations, such as the TCU Daily Skiff, toward minorities.
“We would like the brochures to be more representative of the actual TCU community,” Robinson said. “We are also suggesting new policy guidelines for the Skiff so all students are respected.”.
Linda Moore, a professor and the chairwoman of the social work department, addressed inclusiveness.
“Color is only one part of diversity. We need to address all the minority groups on campus that are not represented, not just those students of color,” she said.
Parker echoed Moore’s opinion.
“It’s all about outreach,” Parker said. “This event is the most diverse event I have seen at TCU. We need to find a resolution and to do so we need to step outside our comfort zones.”
Feleceia Benton, a senior theater and advertising/public relations major, said students need to change people’s perception and to work on this individually.
“The change may not happen overnight or in a year, but we need to be the change we want to see,” Benton said.
There will be an inclusiveness forum Oct. 24 to determine TCU’s progress on the diversity.
Diversity is a complex issue, Boschini said.
“But this is how social change happens,” he said. “It’s a small group refusing to give in and eventually social change occurs.”