Nearly 200 students came to a town hall meeting held by the Minority Rights Coalition Thursday to discuss the role of minority groups on Grounds.
Multiple hate crimes at the University within the past decade resulted in a need for increased dialogue, said MRC Chair Haya Yaish, a fourth-year College student.
“There’s so many issues that concern the U.Va. community, such as hate crimes on Beta Bridge and the Jewish incident in 2003,” she said. “There are always small incidents that are not getting enough attention.”
Women, Gender and Sexuality faculty member Lisa Speidel led the debate, which featured representatives from the Queer Student Union, the Black Students’ Alliance, the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the Latino Student Alliance, the Asian Students’ Union and the Middle Eastern Leadership Council.
Minority students on Grounds struggle with increasing their visibility, said Jason Feng, second-year College student and panelist from the Asian Students’ Union. “We can just hide and be unseen,” he said. “But I feel like we should try and be more visible. That’s one of our biggest challenges.”
In order to find acceptance, minority students too often feel the need to alter their behavior to fit existing norms, said Middle Eastern Council’s representative Yahiya Saad, a second-year College student. “Minorities adjust who they are and change who they are in order to be accepted,” he said. “You want to be your own person and be accepted.”
Increasing acceptance and prosperity for minority organizations can come in part from increased funding for minority organizations, said fourth-year College student Ebonie Williams, who represents the National Pan-Hellenic Council. More funding would allow them to participate in large-scale events, which would greatly increase visibility, she said.
After the 45-minute panelist session, the audience broke into small groups led by members of Sustained Dialogue, which co-sponsored the event.
“[I was] very pleasantly surprised by the turnout,” Yaish said. “We expected 130 [participants], but we had to add three tables. We were scared we wouldn’t fill it up.”
Henry Pflager contributed to this report
An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the MRC Chair. She is fourth-year College student Haya Yaish.
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