Over 60 faculty members from NC State on Friday attended the second in a series of webinars designed to promote conversations about race and diversity within the university administration. This webinar was titled “Racial Climate on Campus: A Rapid Response Webinar” and focused on how the university should respond in the uncertain racial climate on campus to create a climate of social justice. 

Justine Hollingshead, chair of University Diversity Advisory Committee within the Division of Academic and Student Affairs, said in an email that the town hall last week was evidence that conversations like this need to be had on campus. 

“This is definitely an issue that is of importance to many faculty, staff, administrators and students on campus,” Hollingshead said. “This was evidenced by the turnout at the Student Government Town Hall last week and other events on campus.”

The webinar was narrated by the Rev. Jamie Washington, who is considered an expert on furthering diversity on campuses around the country. While the strategies discussed and the problems themselves were not new information to those in attendance, Hollingshead said they “serve as a good refresher” going into a new semester. 

“There seems to be a renewed sense of need to engage more in dialogue and be more aware about issues impacting the racial climate on campus,” Hollingshead said.

For John Miller IV, a graduate assistant to DASA, there was a new message in the webinar, that in order to progress on the field of diversity, the university as a whole has to admit that discrimination exists. 

“I think that the new aspect of the strategies being discussed in the webinar is that we have to formally admit that discrimination and ignorance lives here,” Miller said in an email. “I think that with the current landscape of social justice in America, NC State is taking the collective opportunity to better ‘reach across the aisle’ and authentically engage in difficult conversations (and actions) around race, gender, sexual orientation, religious identity, ethnicity, physical/mental ability and any other identity that has been minoritized by society that have been looming within our campus culture to make sure that all members of the Pack are safe to learn, grow and persist.”

The webinar used examples such as the University of Missouri, which faced widespread student protests when the administration failed to address the rampant racial incidents on campus; Yale, where a campus-wide email advising cultural sensitivity leading up to Halloween generated heated dialogue between students and faculty; UCLA where a fraternity hosted a “Kanye West” themed mixer in which students dressed in black-face and portrayed other racial stereotypes; and the University of Southern California, where the Student Body President was referred to as an “Indian piece of s— to gauge the discussion. 

The Rev. Washington referred to these examples not to say that any one campus is individually “bad” but to show that any campus is subject to this. 

“Some of what is up for campuses is, ‘we just don’t want to be in the paper, we don’t want to be the next Twitter [trend], we just don’t want to go viral,’” Washington said. Washington’s goal was to show how campuses could prepare and how to “engage to minimize these events” to create a better environment. 

Each of these incidents has parallels on NC State’s campus, and for administrators it could seem as unpredictable as a natural disaster.

“What I would take from that is that it’s an urgent situation and campuses need to be engaging in dialogue and coming up with ways to respond,” Hollingshead said. “Any campus could end up like Missouri.”

Another webinar is scheduled for Jan. 26 in the Washington Sankofa room of Witherspoon Student Center to focus on specific ways that staff can respond to challenges. This event will be open to student leaders and the student population, in addition to staff members.

“What I hope for NC State is that we can find more ways to change the climate so that everyone feels welcome, safe, and comfortable contributing as a member of this great community,” Hollingshead said.