Nasir Montalvo and DuJaun Kirk hosted a Diversity Town Hall to share ideas and experiences about how to make a more diverse and inclusive campus. At the town hall, Montalvo shared his past experiences that led to this initiative, potential solutions to create a more diverse and inclusive campus, and steps for moving forward.
“I think at first, the motivation stemmed from the voting initiative that student affairs and diversity education were pushing,” said Montalvo on what motivated him to start the initiative. Montalvo felt that the voting posters were “tasteless” and “clearly [placed] a target on the black population of Stevens.” However, Montalvo is no longer focused solely on voting posters, but fighting for marginalized groups on campus. “I have been trying to pursue some activist things in BSU, such as cohosting with Amnesty for their Gun Rights event, but I wanted to do more. After sending out that email to all of 10th floor Howe basically, and having to meet with them, I figured I would just take the reins and host a town hall,” Montalvo said. At a meeting with Sara Klein, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs, Montalvo progressed in working to further pursue the initiative.
The first solution discussed was expanding Safezone Training to “encompass people of color, women and gender non-conforming students, those with disabilities.” Montalvo noted that an issue is that there is not a concentrated Safezone program that is required for faculty during training. Integrating this expanded Safezone training within leadership connect so the RSO e-board can spread information to their general body was discussed.
The second solution was create a safe space on campus; the only space on campus is Lor-El. There is no space for any other marginalized groups.
The third solution was creating a diversity coalition between students, faculty, and staff. Montalvo refused to call it a “committee” due to some negative connotations surrounding the word. The coalition would help connect students with faculty and bring up issues that marginalized groups on campus are facing. Faculty and staff who are minorities on campus sometimes do not have the chance to interact with each other often, and creating a coalition could solve this issue.
Montalvo advised using proclamations to help the coalition reach their goals. By issuing a proclamation, the Student Government Association (SGA) could make a formal opinion and request for diversity and inclusion.
Going forward, Montalvo hopes to formalize the diversity initiative by creating a “Diversity and Inclusion” ad-hoc committee within the Student Government Association (SGA). Montalvo noted that Lucas Gallo, President, and Rami Kammourh, Vice President, were pushing for him to formalize the initiative as an ad-hoc committee, but he wanted to get input from other members involved before doing so.
For the town hall, Montalvo was pleased with how the event turned out.
“I feel that for an unofficial event where there was basically no obligation to go, it was an amazing turnout. My main goal with hosting the townhall was to hear from others on campus and get people involved, and I think I did just that,” said Montalvo “I’m hoping that if things go well, this initiative can start building a bigger following of marginalized groups AND allies.”
Montalvo hopes to host another town hall in the near future after his next meeting with Klein.
Be First to Comment