Dialogue Day
Digest
An initial summary of facilitator evaluations of
Dialogue Day, held September 16, shows some encouraging results. Most
importantly, Dialogue Day reinforces that there is campus-wide
interest in the topic—roughly 1,300 students participated and 200
faculty, staff, and students served as facilitators.
The evaluations
indicate that the various discussion groups were most concerned about
a wide range of bases of exclusion, ranging from race, ethnicity, and
economic class, to sexual orientation, and differences in gender and
religious and political ideologies.
Next steps
include more in-depth evaluation by Kent Smith, director of
institutional research and planning, who has a preliminary report in
the works. For members of the Trinity community interested in
developing concrete projects in response to Dialogue Day, an initial
meeting will be held on October 14, time TBA.
Participants’ suggestions for taking action included:
For students:
-
become
more involved in the community and in 'Do It' days
-
encourage more diverse participation in the cultural house activities
-
taking responsibility for one's behavior and taking a
stand
For faculty:
For
administration:
Student testimonials that were gathered after the event
include:
-
“This
day gave me an increased awareness of the challenges some students
face day to day at Trinity. I hope I will be more sensitive to these
issues in the future"
-
"Remembering that diversity goes beyond 'minorities'. It seems as
though there is a general idea that diversity does not include white
people, but I realized that it does.”
-
“I
will try to convince my friends to come with me to more cultural
events. I will talk to more classmates and friends about these
issues.”
-
"I
can listen to other people's experiences and share my own to create a
better understanding between fellow students."
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