The past six months at Northeastern have brought diversity issues to the forefront, including stereotyping, minority representation among faculty and a lack of diverse events on campus.
While this discussion has sometimes been divisive, it has also brought student groups together to discuss diversity on campus and reach new levels of collaboration.
The discussion began last spring, when the Council for University Programs (CUP) eliminated the position of diversity chair. Student groups protested the decision, and CUP held a series of meetings, gathering input from student groups. Through these meetings, CUP created a new position, vice president for collaboration, to coordinate events between student groups.
This discussion continued when the “Breaking Bread: Women of Color Dialogue” event was limited to women of color. The Student Government Association (SGA) protested to open the dialogue to all, prompting event organizer Robin Chandler to accuse the students of “white privilege” and “lack of generosity of spirit.”
Her remarks were greeted with anger from students, and President Richard Freeland posted a comment on the myNEU portal, emphasizing the importance of diversity.
“That’s what this country’s all about, and Northeastern should be a model,” President Freeland said.
In the wake of the Breaking Bread issue, Freeland and other administrators emphasized the Dialogues on Diversity, a series of small-group discussions about diversity on campus. Freeland said the dialogues were intended to maintain awareness.
Some, however, doubt the effectiveness of the dialogues.
“I think [the talks] are a beginning, a starting point. I’m not going to dismiss it,” said Mark Harvey, program coordinator for the Office of Special Support Services.
Harvey also questioned the diversity within the groups at the dialogues.
“How effective is it with three to five people in one group?” he said.
However, Harvey commended the student organizations and leaders who have taken initiative to bring awareness to campus.
“I am very proud of [the student groups]. There is still more work to be done but I think it took student organizations, leaders and concerned students to bring some of the issues to the table with CUP and the removal of the diversity chair,” he said.
Harvey said student groups have been collaborating to bring diversity to campus more than ever. Notably, the Latin-American Student Organization (LASO) and CUP have worked to coordinate several events, such as comedian Pablo Francisco’s visit to campus.
“In each area there are things that can be improved,” said Sergio Marrero, president of LASO. “But there are so many layers, I think, you could talk about among students concerning diversity.”
Marrero said there is a difference between the administration’s mission statement and their actions.
“[The administration] says they are all about diversity, but they won’t share any statistics on their efforts to bring diverse faculty or comparisons between Northeastern and other universities who have very diverse student bodies and faculty and staff,” he said.
Marrero said there are still concerns, and many tasks to accomplish.
“I think the biggest concern is the unsaid. The big three student groups [CUP, SGA, RSA] have the purpose of serving the students and they market themselves like that,” Marrero said. “But for events thrown by ethnic student groups meant for everyone, people feel that if they are not of that background, they are not welcome, which isn’t true.”
CUP President Amanda Zoglio, however, said she thinks things have changed drastically.
“I’ve seen a lot of improvement this year,” Zoglio said. “All the groups have been open to meeting with each other and organizing events.”
The addition of CUP’s collaboration chair has been a catalyst for many changes, Zoglio said.
Other groups agree, however, there is still room for improvement.
“There is diversity on campus, but I think that it’s not vocalized as much as other universities,” said senior criminal justice major Mike Lee, president of the Asian Student Union (ASU).
Lee met several times with various student leaders, reaching out to bring Asian-American students into the diversity discussion.
“[Marrero] networked ASU into these issues during the summer meetings with CUP,” Lee said. “I also think this has been a very productive year with cross-cultural networking. It’s not something I have seen here in the past.”
Lee went on to say this is the first year Asian-American students have their own center. Lee said the change is only the beginning.
“I think that academic programs and faculty and staff can be improved to be better for Asian-American students; it has definitely been lacking in the past,” he said. “We are the largest minority population on campus and although this is the first year awareness has been growing, there is still a need that hasn’t been fulfilled.”
Wednesday, Dec. 7 will be a night dedicated to diversity. LASO, along with 11 other student groups, has organized a diversity forum called “What are we afraid of?” which will address issues that have emerged from the diversity discussions throughout the semester.
