By Anna Hansen
Nov. 28, 2020
Edgewood’s Student Senate hosted two virtual town halls, one in late October, and one in November addressing the issues of discrimination and racial justice on campus. These events, which took place on Oct. 26 and Nov. 19 featured Senate president Shawn Padley as well as chair Lydia Dean, while also featuring members of Edgewood’s Task Force on Dismantling Racism.
Dean said the town halls were meant to provide community members with safe environments to share experiences and discuss the atmosphere on campus.
The first step in combatting exclusion, said Student Senate President Shawn Padley, is to figure out who’s not feeling included. “We can talk about inclusion all day long,” said Padley, “but if the people having the conversations are already there then we’re missing a key point.”
Issues of discrimination and increased tensions surrounding the recent presidential election were also addressed by Olivia Rose, an Edgewood freshman and one of four student representatives on the task force. Rose said that it is important for students to have constant resources available for them, regardless of widespread panic. “It’s not just the big events that matter, but also the smaller ones that might not get televised at a national scale, and sometimes they’re even personal.”
Donna Vukelich-Silva, Edgewood education professor and task force member, brought up the recent presidential election, and the lack of education surrounding the impact a vote can have. “There’s a huge group of white students on this campus who don’t have a place to kind of learn in a safe environment,” said Vukelich-Silva. “I had a lot of discussions, just one-on-one, with white students during the election. They would say these things that were fairly sensitive about fellow students, but then say something different about their electoral decision, and there wasn’t any connective tissue there, they didn’t understand that a vote has consequences.”
The eighteen-member task force looks at issues of climate among students on campus as well as recruitment, retention, curriculum, and pedagogy, among other things, said Vukelich-Silva. “As we began to talk in the very beginning, we really looked at this issue of ‘what are the structural underpinnings that allow a racist system to continue?’” said Vukelich-Silva. “It’s not like looking for that really bad, mean person- that’s part of it, perhaps, but really, it’s more like looking what are the structural barriers in place.”
Many in attendance expressed concerns over the lack of connection and, resultingly, participation, in their hybrid classes. The asynchronous meetings, said Edgewood senior Asfiya Syeda, can contribute to a sense of isolation. “I feel like I don’t have many conversations anymore with anyone.” Dean added that breakout rooms can also be hit or miss. “it makes you feel really alone when you’re in a room and everyone’s cameras are off and nobody’s talking to you.”
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