Chief Diversity Officer William Harvey met with black student leaders last night to discuss issues faced by the black student community at the University.
Students questioned Harvey on a variety of issues including the reported incidents of racial intolerance last fall, the lack of black faculty members and other challenges faced by black students.
Harvey encouraged the students to become more involved in various organizations at the University.
"I need for you to understand this is your institution as much as anyone else's," Harvey said.
Harvey spoke about ways to change the climate of intolerance that led to the reported incidents earlier in the school year, announcing that the University would be in written or electronic communication with every student before the end of the semester as well as over the summer about incidents of intolerance.
Harvey added that he also hoped to have student organizations convey messages to students about racial intolerance.
"We do need the student leadership to take responsibility for this message," Harvey said.
Third-year College student Chelsea Cosby questioned Harvey about the way he would go about doing this.
"How do you propose making CIOs and fraternities get out the message of the unacceptability of inappropriate racial attitudes?" Cosby asked.
Other students offered additional suggestions to improve the racial climate of the University.
"I think student leadership is not enough," third-year Education student Kevin Williams said.
Williams brought up the possibility of a required diversity class for all University students.
"I had to take four semesters of Spanish, why can't we have to take this?" Williams asked.
Harvey encouraged the students to get involved and to engage the faculty to make changes to the curricula.
Harvey also addressed efforts to increase the number of black faculty members at the University.
"You can't have a world-class institution of higher learning in the 21st century unless you reflect the diversity of this country," Harvey said.
The recruitment of a more diverse faculty was one of the major issues addressed by the Board of Visitors at its meeting last week.
"We're going to have a fairly energetic recruiting drive pretty soon," Harvey said.
Students also brought up concerns about the school's relation to the greater black community.
"Our school fosters a plantation culture in which blacks are a majority in service positions and a minority in the classroom," third-year College student Jessica Childress said.
Harvey also addressed the fact that many of the lowest level University employees are black.
"We can't be a first-rate institution when all of the people doing the worst jobs are of the same race without having the opportunity for education or moving forward," Harvey said.
Harvey said he was pleased with both the turnout and content of the evening and spoke about the possibility of future events like this one.
"My position here is to provide whatever service or benefit I can," Harvey said. "I am certainly open to continuing."
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