Forum airs the issues that Penn students rarely address

Penn students last night tackled the issues that rarely get addressed at the University. At yesterday's "Town Hall Meeting on Under-Represented Issues," 50 students gathered in Houston Hall's Hall of Flags to hear the views of student panelists and to share their own ideas. Students from organizations such as the United Minorities Council, UMOJA, Queer Student Alliance and the Latino Coalition participated in the panel. "Without people to have discourse with, people find themselves talking to himself or herself," discussion facilitator Brian Armstead of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations said at the beginning of the evening. Armstead's first question, posed both to the student panel and the audience, was "Do you feel like you're a part of Penn's status quo?" "As a lesbian, I don't think that I fit into the status quo here at Penn," Queer Student Alliance member and College sophomore Rosanna Tran said. Some on the panel said they felt isolated in trying to work for change on Penn's campus. "As a person who's actively trying to change things, I don't feel part of the status quo," Latino Coalition member and College sophomore Shaun Gonzales said. College Senior Dominic McNeil, one of the attendees, sparked an exchange between audience members and attendees after he said that although change can be achieved within the University structure, the apathy of the student body posed a problem. "Penn is open to these kinds of progressive ideas," McNeil said about the goals of many minority student groups. "The problem, I think, is the student body itself," McNeil added. "You're a bit ignorant of the facts," panelist and Wharton sophomore Candice Craig replied, highlighting that she did not mean to insult McNeil. "I knew the University would not cater to my needs as an African-American female," said Craig, the UMOJA program coordinator. Panelist Kisimbe Thomas, a Wharton and Nursing senior, was eager to mention that there is progress in minority representation on campus, but that much more needs to be achieved. "There is some progress but that progress is being made in very conservative ways," Thomas said. Panelists noted that the Penn community must work for change not only on Penn's campus, but in Philadelphia and beyond. "I think it would be a good thing for students to break out of this bubble," Tran said. "We all as human beings have a responsibility to each other," Progressive Activists Network member and Wharton Junior Brian Kelly said. Another exchange between the panel and the audience began after Gonzales expressed his views about the Undergraduate Assembly handing the issue of the future of the South Asian Regional Studies Department to the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education. "We attempt to educate on this issue," Gonzales said, "but sometimes it's falling on deaf ears." The UA's move was defended afterwards by SCUE chairwoman Lindsey Mathews, who said the move was "the most responsible decision," given SCUE's access to academic resources. "I thought it was a very eye-opening experience to see, particularly for me, the impressions that a lot of students have about the Undergraduate Assembly," UA chairman Michael Bassik said. "The next step is to find out from the conversation that occurred today what we can do to improve the situation that many students spoke about today."

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