Members of Colors, a newly formed student group composed of leaders from seven campus minority organizations, said last night that the group will act as voice to challenge racism at the College.
Patricia Frausto '97, serving as a spokesperson for the group, said members of Colors "definitely plan on acting in the near future ... as soon as possible" to address recent incidents of racism and homophobia.
The presidents and vice presidents of the Afro-American Society, the African and Caribbean Students' Organization, the Dartmouth Asian Organization, the Korean American Student Association, La Alianza Latina, the Milan South Asian Students organization and Native Americans at Dartmouth comprise the membership of the group.
At last night's meeting, the group's third since its creation, Frausto mentioned two incidents Colors will address.
It will address the racial slurs written two weeks ago on the door of the room of two Asian students in addition to the reports of incidents of homophobia in the Gold Coast residential cluster.
"We want to let everyone know that this will not be tolerated," Frausto said, "and that we are not divided."
Frausto said the membership of Colors felt these "shameful" occurrences had not been adequately addressed by Dartmouth students or the administration and that more needs to be said about them.
People began talking about forming Colors last term, so some past officers of the seven groups are also in Colors, such as Frausto, who was the vice president of La Alianza in the fall. Frausto said Colors has about 17 members.
Although the group has not elected any permanent officers, Frausto said Danielle Doctor '98 is serving as the acting secretary of Colors.
Dean of the College Lee Pelton said as of last night he had not heard about Colors, but said, "I would support any student or any group of students who would take it upon themselves to create ways of improving the community's understanding of race and race relations on campus."
Frausto confirmed that members of Colors had yet to address any administrators about the group. She said Colors probably will meet with administrators, but "we have to get our own act together first."
Tomorrow night the seven organizations will hold a meeting in Cutter-Shabazz Hall to brainstorm and to discuss methods for challenging ambient racism and homophobia, Frausto said.
The meeting is specifically for members of the seven organizations, which comprise what Frausto called Dartmouth's "community of color."
"We won't necessarily bar anyone from the meeting," Frausto said, but "we feel like we have to get together as a community first."
She said the group will hold more meetings throughout the term so its members can hear more opinions and get more accomplished.
Lacking a constitution and a detailed mission, Colors is still young and will be fleshed out as the term progresses, Frausto said.
The creators of Colors held a private meeting at Cutter-Shabazz Hall last Friday night for possible members to help put together the organization.
But a miscommunication led some students involved with the embryonic body to send out some open invitations for anyone to attend the meeting, which drew unwanted attention from several visitors, including The Dartmouth, Frausto said. She later apologized for the confusion and attributed it to a miscommunication over electronic-mail.
At that meeting, Josh Winterhalt '97, president of NAD, said the only people permitted to remain at the meeting were the presidents and vice presidents of the seven included organizations.
