MSA Senate

Attendants:

Jennifer Claxton (Chair)

Bruce Hall

Porscha Kirkwood

Phyllis Williams

Meeting:

We are planning for a large Multicultural Town hall meeting on March 11^th as a substitute for our MCI meeting. An invitation will be extended to all students on campus, especially members of different multicultural groups. There are several things that we really want to cover during this meeting:

• We would like to let them now what is going on in MSA
• We would like to discuss the Ward Connerly/Missouri Civil Rights Initiative
• We would like to get different students opinions on the Diversity Course
• We would also like to see what different initiatives and projects other students want us to take on.

We went further in depth about what had previously been going on in the committee. We also had more discussion about the diversity course.

MIC met this week on the second floor of Memorial Union to discuss updates on the possible Diversity Intensive course requirement. A rough draft of upcoming legislation was reviewed and members made plans to meet with various leaders in the diversity-related community on campus. In addition, the idea of working with the Missouri International Student Council to promote an essay contest for their passport website was explored in greater detail.

Chairwoman Melissa Vought

The Multicultural Issues Committee kicked off the winter semester last Thursday night in Memorial Union. We briefly discussed our plans for the upcoming months including collaborating with Four Front and the Legion of Black Collegians to write legislation regarding a possible diversity intensive course requirement, working with the Missouri International Student Council on the International Welcome Party to be held February 2nd, and working with the Chancellor’s Diversity Initiative to come up with topics for their You in Mizzou forums.

Chairwoman Melissa Vought
mrvktb@mizzou.edu

The Multicultural Issues Committee met briefly last week to execute last minute Hate Wall preparations. Despite the rain on Wednesday, the Hate Wall event was a great success. Set up in Brady Commons, the wall accumulated hundreds of phrases and words as students passed through the entry way. The committee was excited to see so many of our peers participate in the event.  The wall was destroyed on the same afternoon with hopes that increased diversity awareness lie in its wake. The Multicultural Issues Committee will meet again this week on Thursday at 6:30pm in conjunction with the Missouri International Student Council.

MIC met on Monday night and carpooled to a Committee member’s house to construct our Hate Wall. Through teamwork and craftsmanship, we erected an 8’ x 16’ canvas primed and ready to raise diversity awareness. The Committee plans to continue our work throughout the rest of the week and reach out to other multicultural organizations by forming valuable liaisons. The Hate Wall event will be Wednesday October 17th beginning at 10 a.m. in Speaker Circle. At 2 p.m. the Hate Wall will be destroyed. All students, faculty and the public are encouraged to come by and write on the wall.

Interim Chairwoman Melissa Vought

This week the Multicultural Issues Committee welcomed two new members to the scene. We continued our work on the Hate Wall event and agreed to meet in the Brady Commons Craft Studio to build it next week. The Committee also discussed attending MISC’s General Assembly meeting to meet with some of the other multicultural and international student groups on campus. Additionally, the funding cut for the International Student Career Services was discussed, and optioned were presented as to how MCI can help.

This past week we reconvened in Memorial Union to discuss our latest events and goals concerning multicultural affairs. The committee came prepared with updates for our comprehensive list of all the multicultural groups on campus, their leaders and the times that they meet. We plan to send committee members out to at least one meeting a month of our peer organizations to strengthen issue awareness and relations. The MCI committee also discussed building materials for our hate wall and set an approximate date for the event. The International Student Barometer program was brought up and benefits of supporting the endeavor were explored.

The Multicultural Issues Committee met last Tuesday and discussed our upcoming plans to meet with all the leaders of multicultural groups on campus to generate ideas for projects this semester. Both new and old ideas were proposed to raise multicultural awareness on campus. The committee explored the ideas of participating in a social with the Maneater to strengthen committee-press relations, joining forces with IPC and MISC to survey student response to the International bazaar, and hosting another Hate Wall event this year to enhance understanding of student diversity.

Melissa Vought
Interim Multicultural Issues Chairwoman

Last week, we once again discussed the diversity fee, the new changes and new information that was presented to us. Furthermore we recieved reports from Four Front and the various organizations that are included within. We are looking to increase the information we have about our Truth campaign about diversity upon this campus varying from what is being contributed frm different organizations and their events to statistics about enrollment at the university. Just a reminder that the Hate Report that is being worked on by Kelley Robinson and I is now looking to create a peer group to discuss the findings of the Hate Report. If you are interested please contact either one of us. Finally please do not forget that this Wednesday, April 18th is the MU Day of Silence The Day of Silence is an annual event held to bring attention to anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and discrimination in schools. Students and teachers nationwide will observe the day in silence to echo the silence that LGBT and ally students face everyday. In it’s 11th year, the Day of Silence is one of the largest student-led actions in the country.

Chairwoman Sameera Ali
SAli@mizzou.edu

Our open discussion on race went well, with attendance from Noor Azian-Gardner who offered her insight to the discussion. The Maneater was present and an article was published in Friday’s Maneater. We decided to have a discussion on the intellectual diversity bill this coming Tuesday in our regular room S207. Everyone is welcome to attend. The Hate Wall took place in speaker’s circle from 10am to 6pm where it was torn down. There were approximately one hundred and ten words on the wall by 6pm and it began with three. I was pleasantly surprised about much discussion was sparked and how many people stopped to view the wall and ask questions about the project. It seems there were many people who needed that wall, the ability to write down hurtful words than I had previously imagined. There was a article about the Hate Wall in the Missourian. Thanks to Bruce Hall and Jon Mays for help with construction and design of the wall.

Chairwoman Sameera Ali
SAli@mizzou.edu