Representatives from different organizations on and around campus came to the Oct. 23 Northeastern Student of Color Caucus, or NSCC, town hall meeting to discuss problems regarding racism on campus and how Northeastern’s administration handles it. 

The First Generation and Low Income Student Union, the Full Time Non-Tenure Track Faculty Union, the Black Engineering Student Society and NU for the Common Good, a coalition made up of student, staff and community groups working to make Northeastern “socially responsible,” all had attendees at the meeting.

Racism in the classroom was at the forefront of the discussion. Somy Kim, an assistant teaching professor of English and an organizer of the Full-Time Non-Tenure Track Faculty Union, said that especially considering America’s history and the rhetoric used by U.S. President Donald J. Trump, “we really need to pay attention to race in this country.” 

Kim stressed the importance of the humanities and of language in the fight against racism and racist rhetoric, which she referred to as “the dark arts.”

Students also said they were “pissed off” to hear some of the ways the school was using money. They cited that NU President Joseph E. Aoun made more than $1.3 million in 2016, but also that Northeastern is paying lawyers to fight the unionization of full-time non-tenure track faculty. 

Students and faculty discussed how to raise issues to the administration. Self-Authored Integrative Learning (SAIL) and teacher evaluations (TRACE) were offered as ways to illuminate microaggressions occurring in classrooms that students feel are improperly treated by professors. 

While students didn’t have an immediate solution for their concerns, the goal of the Coalition for Northeastern Student Organizations of Color, or CNSOC, is to create “several different avenues for institutional power.” The CNSOC is not fully established, but its first convention was held Oct. 24 and had representatives from Fellowship and Manhood, the Northeastern Black Student Association, Minority Association of Pre-Health Students, the First Generation and Low Income Student Union, the Latin American Student Organization and BESS.

Melissa Pearson, an assistant professor of English and an organizer of the Full-Time Non-Tenure Track Faculty Union, said during the Town Hall that unless one is actually taking action, “diversity and inclusion is an empty term.”