Student Association announced plans on Monday for a series of student-faculty forums to discuss issues affecting students of color.

Kennedy Hagens and Lujane Juburi, co-chairs of SA’s Diversity Affairs Committee, detailed the initiative at the Assembly meeting on Monday. The forums will allow Syracuse University students from marginalized groups to voice their opinions on campus issues.

“For students of color, it’s not often that we’re given a platform where we’re able to speak what’s on our minds,” Hagens said. “I’m really hoping that this forum allows for positive relationships to be built and opens the door for more creative solutions.”

The first forum, currently scheduled for Nov. 19, will focus on racial profiling at SU. The event was inspired in part by an alleged racial bias incident that occurred between a student and a Food Services employee, Hagens said.

The purpose of the forums is to engage students on campus regarding a wide variety of issues affecting students of color, Juburi said. Aside from the first forum on racial profiling, the forums will have no set topics.

Representatives from SU’s Stop Bias initiative, a program that educates students and faculty about bias, met with Hagens and Juburi last week to begin coordinating the first forum. The event will follow a town hall format where students can direct their questions to the faculty and administrators in attendance, Hagens said.

Hagen and Juburi also spoke about the importance of using the forums to foster a proactive discussion between students of color and administrators.

“A lot of times, students of color on campus only engage with faculty and administration when something bad happens,” Juburi said. “So it becomes a very reactionary and transactional relationship between the two.”

Hagens and Juburi want to have at least three faculty members in attendance at the first forum, they said. At future events, they want to include more administrators who can address issues and create solutions that students are seeking.

“We don’t want students to feel as though they’re not heard or not valued,” Juburi said. “We’re trying to bring that power back to them. To feel that they have the ability to make a change on this campus.”

Other business

• Comptroller Stacy Omosa announced that the Finance Board is currently holding hearings to determine the organization’s annual budget.
• Assembly members Skylar Swart and David Bruen proposed a bill that would make Assembly votes public through the SA website.

Published on October 28, 2019 at 11:47 pm

Contact Chris: cjhippen@syr.edu