Several University of West Georgia student organizations rallied together to sponsor a student panel to address racial tension and student body division on Jan. 26 in the Campus Center Ballroom. The panel, named “Coexist,” featured student panelists answering pre-selected questions asked by a moderator, in hopes of promoting unity among the students, faculty and staff.

Organizations sponsoring the event included the Student Government Association, the Black Student Alliance, the Inter-Fraternity Council, the Latino Cultural Society, and the Baptist Collegiate Ministries. The panel was comprised of seven students from differing backgrounds and ethnicities, all representing different organizations.

Panelists included India Brown, BSA; Fred Curtis, SGA and College Democrats; Scott Fields, BCM; Joe Gonsalves, IFC; Amanda McCarty, BCM and SGA; Rebecca Parrish, IFC and SGA; and Shiloh Patrick, SGA. Walter Swanson, president of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, moderated the event.

The panelists answered questions ranging from personal heritage, cultural upbringing, common interest, stereotyping and racial tension. In what was anticipated to be a controversial and potentially heated dialogue from opposing views, the panelists were very selective in how they answered questions posed. They seemed to agree more than they disagreed.

The Coexist panelists concluded that racial tension and student division are complex issues that may have more to do with common interest than race itself.

“Common interest is very important,” said Curtis. “The people that I hang out with like the same food I like to eat, they like to watch the same things I like to watch and we share the same faith and beliefs. Sometimes commonality may be about race, but sometimes it isn’t.”

Fields agreed with Curtis.

“Most of the people that I hang out with on a regular basis, and that I consider friends, are musicians, they are mostly male, and they’re Christians,” said Fields. “I think we are naturally drawn to people who we share a common bond with.”

Due to the dialogue focusing around common interest, a second question was posed: is race classified as a source of common interest?

“I think race is definitely a common interest,” said Brown. “You might meet someone who is the same ethnicity as you and you might have a lot to talk about because you share similar stories and backgrounds, which may make it easier to communicate with one another.”

The event concluded as all of the panelists urged those in the audience to lay aside personal differences and reach outside of their comfort zones to strive for a more unified campus.

“Unity is a lofty expectation and it’s not going to happen overnight,” said Webster in closing. “It’s up to each individual to make a conscience decision to choose to co-exist with one another.”

Almost 100 students attended the event and student reaction varied.

“Personally I thought the event was an overall success,” said Swanson. “Initially I thought it would be more controversial being that the topic was on-campus diversity. I would tell people who didn’t come that they missed out on an opportunity to meet new people and be a part of the dialogue.”

Most students agreed that the event was a step in the right direction, but some believed it fell short of accomplishing its goal.

 “A large part of the crowd was discouraged because this event had so much potential,” said Barrie Pilgrim, a UWG senior, majoring in Marketing. “I felt like the panelists played it too safe with their answers.”

 Pilgrim wasn’t the only student who felt the panelists tried to be too politically correct.

“I think the panelists tried to give the answers the audience wanted to hear instead of saying how they really felt about the issues,” said junior Meyuna Shepherd, a mass communications major.

Other students felt that questions posed to the panel didn’t address all the issues that impact student diversity on-campus.

“Diversity is not just about race,” said biology major and UWG senior Brandon Thompson. “Diversity deals with people’s sexual orientation, economic status, religious beliefs and political beliefs. Race is just one aspect of the issue.”

Many students shared Thompson’s belief that diversity is a much more complicated issue and that there are more barriers than just race preventing the university from becoming a more unified student body.

“I think that we got a lot out in the open,” said Webster. “Hopefully a dialogue was started and people will start thinking about why there is still so much division on campus.”

Webster was pleased at the turnout and felt that there was enough student interest to do another panel or event in the future. He acknowledged that the next event would need some “tweaking,” but felt that the dialogue was started and needed to be explored further.

1 comments

Anon

Wed Feb 3 2010 22:25

Perhaps those on the panel were tempted to be "politically correct" because they would be "easy targets" had they not been. Were those who were disappointed looking for a fight? Were those disappointed willing to be on the panel themselves and speak "freely"?
It'd be interesting to read their comments here.

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