Individual student volunteers and University student organizations will provide the manpower to mobilize 12 diversity projects set forth at a Zero Tolerance for Ignorance meeting last night.
The Zero Tolerance Mission's primary projects emphasize student awareness of the recent diversity commission's report and potential student influence in the selection of the University's new Chief Officer of Diversity and Equity.
Student input should play a significant role in the search for the officer since the position is new and has yet to be defined, said Isaac Agbeshie-Noye, Black Student Alliance vice president of networking.
"It is very important that students are involved in the process of finding who that person is going to be," Agbeshie-Noye said. "That person cannot just look for a blanket solution -- they need to respond to student feedback."
The project aiming to increase student involvement in the officer recruitment will emphasize student feedback that could be shared with the new officer as well as actual student presence on the selection committee.
Another of the mission's projects is intended to encourage student understanding of the diversity commission's report.
"There needs to be as much feedback on the report as possible," Agbeshie-Noye said. "Students need to take ownership in the changes that are going to be made."
Organizations adopting the Zero Tolerance Mission statement will be required to take an active role in the execution of the 12 projects set forth at last night's meeting.
"It is very easy for people to adopt the statement," Agbehshie-Noye said. "We also need people to take actions to make things better at U.Va."
Currently, 15 University student organizations have adapted the Mission Statement, including the University Guide Service, the Arts and Sciences Council and the University Programs Council.
"In this kind of offense the message is that the victim doesn't matter, that they have no place, they have no power," said Honor Committee member Sara Page, who is responsible for spearheading the effort to get organizations to adopt to the Zero Tolerance Mission statement. "A way to treat that offense is for organizations to respond proactively."
Last night students signed up for the individual mission projects. Each project will be assigned a committee head to organize meeting times, although the projects will continue to collaborate with one another.
While some of the projects' plans will go into effect this school year, others will take more time. Since many funding deadlines have already passed this semester, the mission will wait to contact funding agencies until next semester or school year.
The mission projects likely will contact the Office of the Dean of Students, the Cultural Programming Board, the Parents' Program and possibly Student Council for funding, Agbehshie-Noye said.
"We don't want anybody to feel like they can't have a program because they can't afford to," Agbehshie-Noye said.
The Zero Tolerance calendar committee and the Black Student Alliance's Issues Committee may plan more visible diversity awareness efforts, including a Zero Tolerance week and wearing all black at football games.
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