New Student Forum Addresses Tolerance and Diversity at GU
Approximately 15 students gathered last night to discuss recent acts of vandalism on campus and the formation of a student group to address issues of diversity, tolerance and community at Georgetown.
The informal, roundtable discussion, open to the public and held in the Reiss Science Building at 8 p.m., focused mainly on the creation of a new group, which was given the interim name of “Student Forum.” The forum would tentatively meet monthly to give students an opportunity to talk about the campus climate, particularly regarding diversity, open-mindedness and community building. The forum would highlight positive aspects of campus and call attention to negative incidents, such as the Nazi and anarchist graffiti that appeared on campus recently and were the impetus for the meeting.
“Georgetown has an environment in which we don’t condemn these things [as much as we should],” said Alessandra Brown (MSB ’09), president of Georgetown’s chapter of the NAACP, regarding incidents of intolerance or hate.
As the idea for a forum was conceived tonight, it is still in the very early stages of development. Participants discussed issues including whether to become a student club that receives funding from the Student Activities Commission or to be independent from the university, whether to include faculty and administrators, how to attract support and turnout, what relationship the group would have with the Georgetown University Student Association and how politicized the group would be.
Attendees included representatives from various student organizations, including GU Pride, GUSA, Georgetown’s chapter of the NAACP, the Georgetown Catholic Daughters, the Student Commission for Unity, the Protestant Student Forum and others. The meeting was moderated by Julia Shindel (COL ’10), a member of United Feminists and the Georgetown Solidarity Committee. The group plans to meet again on April 16 at 8 p.m., but the location has not yet been announced.
– Brian Burke
“
