Student Senate hosted a forum with Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer Warren Anderson in the Garrett Center on March 3.
The forum marks the nearly six weeks in Anderson’s time here at Bradley as the VP of DEI. He told the audience, many of whom were representatives from organizations that are aimed at students of color or diverse backgrounds, that he wanted to hear students’ concerns.
“There are students of color … who have said, ‘I graduated years ago; I didn’t have a great experience, I had a terrible experience, but I love the institution,’” Anderson said. “That’s what I’m hearing over and over again. What that tells me is that there is a passion to do better and it’s worth it.”
So far, Anderson said that he has had to deal with 10 unspecified DEI cases involving students on Bradley’s campus. However, he wants to be part of Bradley in less reactionary situations and take note of progress made.
“I want to start developing the culture around that – the good that’s happening around the institution,” Anderson said.
However, Anderson said that to make such changes, students should share their experiences. The forum gave students an opportunity to open up and to recall their experiences of racism and insensitivity from peers or pointing out that most of their professors don’t come from similar cultural backgrounds.
The diversity, equity and inclusion committee in Student Senate was mainly in-charge of organizing the forum. The committee is made up of people of color, according to committee member Nyla Larry, so they had an idea of what to expect.
“None of what we heard was completely new or an out-of-the-box experience for a person of color on campus,” Larry said. “We had this event to shed light on those [experiences] and made sure that the student body knows that something is happening in the background.”
An incident brought up by a student at the forum involved the “Levanta tu Bandera” event hosted by the Association of Latino-American Students. The student said that the flags in the circle of pride were brought down early during Latinx/Hispanic Heritage month for visiting alumni.
Anderson instead asked why students wanted temporary installations rather than looking towards permanent installations on campus. He questioned why students don’t feel like they can be celebrated year-round rather than only with self-produced events.
“I want us to start thinking bigger as it relates to culture; that’s the only way we’re going to get change,” Anderson said. “When I start to say, ‘Advocate for yourselves,’ that’s what I’m talking about.”
Another student said that diversity training for on-campus jobs is hosted by other students and only lasts 30 minutes. The student further claimed that they faced a racist incident at their job, and when they reported it, their employers had to reach out to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
Following that statement was a student who said that diversity training was overall ineffective and is forgotten shortly after.
Anderson asked students to create a scenario where diversity training could become effective when incentivized and stretched over multiple sessions.
“Every single person, when it comes to evaluation, unless you can tell me how going to those trainings have been implemented in your work, you didn’t get a pay raise, you weren’t considered for a promotion,” Anderson said. “Imagine a student and we change the outcome relative to internships.”
The concept, while not promised by Anderson but shared for discussion with students, could be a potential requirement for students to claim internship credit or even for organizations to stay chartered on campus.
Branden Magdaleno, chairman for DEI in Student Senate, noted the student body’s mostly positive reaction.
“The general sentiment here is that … people were okay about learning these things and learning about people in general and how to understand people better,” Magdaleno, junior political science and business major, said.
First-year senator Jasmyne Cooks took this as a moment to reflect on the overall experience and impact that the forum gave.
“Being a part of [the forum] not only opened everyone’s eyes, but it opened my eyes as well for more events,” Cooks, criminology major, said. “This was the first event that we had that took action. This just motivated us, and hopefully everybody else that came, to see that more will [happen] on campus.”
The committee agreed that this looked to be the start of changes happening at Bradley.
