SA calls for better race relations
The racial remarks recently published in the Jack-O-Lantern student humor magazine fueled a proposal by Student Assembly members directing the Assembly to take a leadership role in overseeing the problems of race relations and other concerns such as religion, gender and sexual orientation at the College.
Members of the Assembly's Student Life Committee met Monday in a regularly scheduled meeting focusing on recent remarks in the Jack-O-Lantern and formulated a plan of action which was presented at the Assembly meeting last night.
"It's the Assembly saying it's time to quit screwing around and pull all our resources together to deal with this problem," Vice President of Communications David Parker '00 said. "You can turn back on plans and ideas but it's hard to turn back on what's written on paper."
Although race relations have been an ongoing issue on the Student Life Committee's agenda since the beginning of this term, the recent articles published in the Jack-O-Lantern brought the issue to the forefront, Student Life Committee Vice President Josh Green '00 said.
"These incidents drove home in the minds of the Assembly members that the steps that we've been taking all along weren't unnecessarily postponed," Administrative and Faculty Relations Vice President Case Dorkey '99 said. "When something controversial comes to campus, it galvanizes students."
The proposal affirms the Assembly's role in preventing the "fragmentation of the student body" and calls for allocation of the Assembly's different resources in achieving this goal.
The Assembly plans to spark discussions on race relations and other such matters to help create a unified effort in combating racism on campus, Dorkey said.
"A lot of people in the community don't understand why it was offensive," Assembly Member Domingo Martinez '00 said. "People started to cry over it and I don't think people really understand this incident or the incidents that have happened before."
