Student Council’s Community Affairs Committee hosted a Human and Civil Rights panel and dinner Tuesday night for students interested in learning more about these issues in Charlottesville.
Members from the community and the Human Rights Commission, who have extensive experience with several human rights issues in Charlottesville, were able to join the discussion.
The Human Rights Commission acts as a strong advocate for justice and equal opportunity in Charlottesville by providing citywide leadership and guidance in the area of civil and human rights, according to the organization’s website.
Charlene Green, manager from the Office of Human Rights, opened up the panel by discussing the three main branches of what the actual office does. The branches include concern for individual issues of discrimination, the Human Rights Commission — which deals with systematic issues of discrimination that pertain to city policy — and outreach and education.
Second-year College student Nivedha Kannapadi said the purpose of the event was to connect University students with people in the Charlottesville community.
“It’s a dialogue on human rights issues that occur within the Charlottesville community itself and thinking about what the role of U.Va. students is in addressing these issues,” she said.
Members from the HRC said they were honored to be a part of the exchange with students to discuss students’ issues related to human rights.
While all areas of human rights were generally discussed — such as those of race, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status — HRC members highlighted their concerns with the separated nature of community. They said the community currently consists of the University, the wealthier “Monticello” area and the poorer Charlottesville area.
HRC member Amy Sarah Marshall said this inequality instills a sense of privilege in University students. Marshall explained that students from the University are learning to treat the people around them as less than and, unfortunately, this feeling can be carried on later in life.
Marshall also said she is so worried about this issue that she would second-guess sending her own children to the University.
However, to remedy the issue, HRC members suggested that University students try to attend more community events apart from Tom Tom Founders Festival. Marshall said going to these events and speaking with people they are not normally around is the first way to bridge the gap.
Dorenda Maria Johnson, a member of the HRC, also suggested that University students go to one of the elementary schools or middle schools in the area and take some time to see what goes on in those classrooms. Another idea suggested was for students to go to city council meetings and hear the discussion and the concerns of community members.
Although a lot of work in engagement with the community needs to be done, HRC members said they were happy to see the dialogue has been started. Speaking about these issues is the first stepping stone in the process of bringing the Charlottesville community together, Johnson said.
“When you have lived through it, you can talk about it all you want,” Johnson said, “but what you really want is to see a change.”
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