First Soup and Substance discusses race, ethnicity in higher education

The first Soup and Substance meeting of the Fall 2009 semester took place Thursday.

Interested students and faculty gathered in the Maroon and Gold Room of the Bovee University Center to discuss this meeting’s topic, “Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education.”

Interim Assistant Director of Minority Student Services Lester Booker said he hopes the Soup and Substance program will give students a broader perspective on diversity.

“I expect students to get a better understanding about race and ethnicity. Students should recognize and celebrate the differences that we all have; but most of all students should respect those differences,” Booker said.

In May 2009, the 22nd annual National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education was held in San Diego, Calif. and several MSS members had the opportunity to attend.

Thursday’s panel discussion covered key issues from various sessions the members found interesting during this conference.

Jonathan Glenn, an MSS graduate assistant, served as one of the panelists and spoke on “The Power of Words,” a growing issue of commonly used words that can be offensive to certain ethnicities.

“It was good that John raised awareness on the campus and in the community about offensive words. ‘The Power of Words’ is something I have always worked on for personal
reasons and I think it’s good to teach others that it’s important to be careful with certain words especially around people who may see it a different way than you do,” said Josh
Hill, a Central Michigan University alumnus.

Shant’l Raines, a graduate assistant on the panel, discussed how predominately Caucasian schools don’t appeal to teachers of other races because of what they see or hear about a school’s reputation.

Schools could hold more diversity-based events on campus to show that other ethnicities are welcome. Better advertising of a diverse student body also could help eliminate
this issue, Raines said.