Thirty members of the Elon community gathered together for a CommUNITY dinner on Thursday, Jan. 14 in Green World at 1889 to exchange ideas for how to promote a more inclusive environment at Elon University.
The dinner was led by T.J. Bowie, the coordinator for residential dining and engagement, Marisa Pareti, executive intern at the Office of the Provost and the Provost Inclusive Community Team. It allowed attendees to eat from Colonnades Dining Hall’s selection of food and hold a discussion at tables of five.
At each table, executive interns from the Office of the Provost presented questions about Elon’s campus environment, asking for ways to ensure a safer and more comfortable campus climate.
Six students at one table unanimously said they felt insecure about visiting and having classes in buildings outside of their majors.
They also mentioned that the Center for Race, Ethnicity and Diversity Education (CREDE) offices would not be comfortable for them to enter as white males. The six students were concerned that organizations that have programs solely for minorities at the beginning of the year divide students who identify as minorities from the rest of the Elon community.
While many agreed it was important to offer support to to underrepresented groups on campus, several students argued more should be done to bring people together.
When asked to figure out how to fix an exclusive and negative atmosphere, some answered the Organization Fair begins too early into a freshman's year. This could result in incoming students feel nervous or excluded upon arrival.
“When you come up with all of these programs with people in the same mindset, the people will stick together,” said 2015 graduate Keegan De Silva.
Students suggested having the Org. Fair at a later time in the year to let freshmen be less overwhelmed and learn to widen their social circle before sticking to a particular group.
Toward the end of the dinner, after 90 minutes of conversation, several students agreed that more students should be engaged with one another on campus. They suggested having freshmen take a one-credit class in their second semester at Elon that is purely meant for free discussion about consistent problems that exist locally and globally.
Senior Sean Barry, an executive intern, said students need constant discussion between members of its community in order to prevent a small-minded environment.
“We’re kind of in a microcosm and we need to do something about it here at Elon,” Barry said.
After a few concluding questions for each table, people jotted down their main ideas on how to move forward with the issues discussed. The Provost Inclusive Community Team left satisfied that it was able to motivate 30 individuals to invest time into improving inclusivity on campus.