In response to the current situation at University of Missouri at Columbia, TCU students gathered to discuss the situation and provide solutions.
The event was hosted by Encouraging Quality Understanding And Leading Individuals To Unity (E.Q.U.A.L.I.T.Y.), a student-led organization whose mission is to create open dialogue between students on a variety of issues.
Among the crowd were Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Kathy Cavins-Tull, Associate Vice Chancellor Darron Turner and Assitant Vice Chancellor Mike Russell.
Cavins-Tull praised the students for generating dialogue about the situation at Missouri.
“I love the fact that students are talking about these issues. That is how change can truly take place,” Cavins-Tull said.
Midway through the discussion, current Mizzou student Melinda Oliver skyped-in and talked about inequality Mizzou students face and the lack of empathy they receive from university administration.
“He [former University president Tim Wolfe] was very reactionary and wouldn’t interact with students of color unless he was forced to,” she said.
After the Skype session, E.QU.A.L.I.T.Y. leaders divided the room and began small group discussions.
They were given thought provoking questions and talked about: systematic and institutional oppression, making friends outside of their own ethnic groups and the effectiveness of Mizzou’s protests.
Following the small group discussion, graduate student Myia Williams-Sanders provided ways that TCU can avoid having future racial tension.
“I think there needs to be mandatory cultural sensitivity classes for all students, there should be more faculty members of color, there needs to be different forms of recruitment for students of color and more non-athlete students of color,” she said.
E.Q.U.A.L.I.T.Y. President Brittany Hudson said that the organization will stay in contact with Mizzou and will soon reach out to other nearby universities.
“We are looking at getting in contact with SMU and Baylor to connect with other groups in the area,” she said.
For more information, visit:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/E.Q.U.A.L.I.T.Y.ALFA/
https://orgsync.com/115145/chapter
