Many public leaders do not often admit they do not have all the answers, but Chancellor Mark Emmert told a crowd at Student Government’s second “Chat with the Chancellor” that he did not have all the answers to solve the University’s problems with diversity.
Students, faculty and staff members and administrators discussed diversity in recruitment, enrollment and racial issues Wednesday in the Union Atchafalya Room.
While Emmert admitted the University still is behind on many of these issues, he stressed the importance of continuing to address the problems and said the University is making progress.
Emmert said diversity is important to the University because it helps prepare students for the real world. He also said it is important for students to be exposed to a variety of cultures and backgrounds during college.
Emmert said colleges allow people to be successful and act as a device for achievement, so a university that reflects the overall society of the world will better educate its students.
Although race is not the only aspect of diversity, it was an important topic of discussion during the forum.
Participants asked the chancellor and other administrators questions about minority recruitment of students and faculty, housing for minority students, University events and activities for minorities and campus race relations.
Interim Vice Provost Mary Evelyn Baszile said the University hosts a number of summer programs for high school students.
Assistant Director of Minority Recruitment Regmon Chaney said early contact and persistence have been the keys to obtaining a diverse student body.
Baszile, Chaney and Emmert said the University is making tremendous efforts to recruit minority students and keep them at LSU, but they still have more work to do.
Baszile said it is important to remember people from all different cultures can learn a lot from each other.
Emmert stressed the importance of student involvement in all minority affairs. He praised the African-American Cultural Center, Student Government, the Black Student Union, the Women’s Center and other campus organizations for their efforts.
Emmert said race issues are unavoidable, but the way for the University to overcome problems is to educate its students about other cultures.
While minority enrollment was being discussed, one student asked Emmert if he had ever considered a recruitment effort targeted at the queer community.
Emmert welcomed the idea of specifically targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, question and non-identifying students and said he never had previously thought about it.
Emmert said recruitment in the queer community may be difficult since many high school students are often apprehensive about announcing their sexual orientation. He suggested the possibility of building a center for the campus’s queer community to make the University more inviting to people of a variety of sexual orientations.
Students also asked questions about the role of the campus’s international community and the socioeconomic diversity at the University.
Emmert praised the International Cultural Center for its efforts to welcome international students and make them feel at home.
Emmert also praised service-learning courses and their ability to get students in touch with people from other economic backgrounds.
He said diversity is an important key to building a positive University community.
“One of the secrets of success in our society is that we began to democratize higher education,” Emmert said.