The Article below was published in Vol. 135, Issue 2 of the Lake Forest College Stentor on October 18, 2019
By Sangjun Hornewer ‘20
Editor-in-Chief
Thirty members of the campus community came together on Thursday, September 26 for the first Community Caucus event to discuss the campus climate and how it affects students, faculty, and staff alike.
The event was led by Director of Intercultural Relations Claudia Ramirez Islas and Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies Courtney Joseph. The purpose of reintroducing the Community Caucus is “to empower the community to share information with each other,” Joseph said. Both Ramirez Islas and Joseph are members of the Intercultural Advisory Group, the organization that hosts the events.
According to the College’s website, the Intercultural Advisory Group’s (IAG) primary responsibility is to “provide an institutional forum to address issues of cultural diversity such as (but not limited to) race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, nationality, class, and religion.” This group that is responsible for consulting with various committees on campus as well as providing counsel to President Schutt concerning the aforementioned issues consists of students, faculty, and staff in order to take into consideration a variety of voices and perspectives.
For instance, Liz Uihlein, co-founder and president of Uline, was invited to speak at a Women in Business event in mid-September. Students shared their perspectives and experiences, as well as experiences of their peers who attended the event, and expressed concern about Uihlein’s emphasis on her political views as opposed to her experience as a leading woman in the professional world.
On the topic of inviting speakers and guests to campus, President Stephen Schutt said, “I think the understanding that we need to communicate is that there are boundaries on this. It’s important to bring people to campus with different views, but they need to be willing to be interrogated about those views.” The discussion at the Community Caucus centered around “how to encourage thoughtful dialogue when speakers come to campus,” Ramirez Islas said in a campus-wide email.
“Work in this stuff is messy,” Joseph said, as she acknowledged that dialogue about diversity and inclusion are not always the most comfortable discussions to have. “This is going to get messy, this has been messy, and we’re going to have to handle this together.” For students, faculty, and staff who were not able to attend the first Community Caucus, the matters discussed during the meeting—referred to as “minutes”—were disseminated via a follow-up email sent by Ramirez Islas on October 10.
Students, faculty, and staff are invited and encouraged to attend the two remaining meetings this semester, which will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 24, and Thursday, November 21, in Meyer Auditorium (Hotchkiss Hall). Community members may also send information to the IAG email address IAG2019-2020@mx.lakeforest.edu and contribute to the conversation in that way.
Sangjun Hornewer can be reached at hornewersm@mx.lakeforest.edu.
