The Community Outreach committee encouraged fellows to prioritize attending the Black Heritage Celebration Keynote. Political commentator Angela Rye was the keynote speaker and in the event she spoke directly to students about race relations on campus. During the Q&A portion of the event one student disclosed that her African American ethnology professor, a white man, used the N word in class. This rightfully sparked an uproar in the crowd.
The following week, Gabriela led a discussion and reflection on the event and fellows were inspired to action. We are currently exploring how to write and implement a clause in course syllabi that explains to students how to report racism in the classroom and look forward to our upcoming weekly meeting discussion on academic freedom and diversity with Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity, and Community Engagement and Senior Counsel Richard Weitzner. We chose to prioritize this because it serves as a contract between professors and students and sets the standard for the classroom environment. We hope to utilize our position as ambassadors between students and the university to improve the undergraduate experience, especially for students of color.