Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
StuCo spent the first part of their Sunday night meeting reflecting on Friday’s community collection to discuss recent incidents of hate speech on campus.
Committee Appointments Chair Will Lawrence ’13 said he was pleased that “not [just] the usual suspects” were at the collection. He said students expressed the need to have an “immediate response mechanism” for community support when hate speech or violence occur on campus.
Secretary Sarah Dwider ’13 said that the collection reflected the Swarthmore community, without the usual divide between administrators and students.
Campus Life Representative Ali Roseberry-Polier ’14 said the Dean’s Advisory Council will discuss having more regular collections throughout the year.
The conversation turned to the current state of diversity worskshops, which Dwider said don’t teach why diversity is important, or “really get to the root of any problems.” Lawrence added that, as with many of the students who came to collection, what is challenging is getting people who most need the education to engage in the workshops.
Co-President Matt Lamb ’12 said diversity training needs to be incentivized. Yet Student Groups Advisor Elena Schlessinger ’15 pointed out that in making training mandatory it “instantly becomes less meaningful.”
Roseberry-Polier said that one suggestion is to spend Martin Luther King Day each year doing service and workshops on diversity.
Miscellaneous
Educational Policy Representative Panchompoo Fai Wisittanawat ’13 is heading a Small Steps Forward initiative that may allow Student Groups to print in color in the Media Center for select projects and events.
Lawrence brought up the idea of creating a committee on Student Institututional Memory—creating and preserving the history of the work of student groups on campus. He is currently speaking to several students interested in participating in such an initiative.
