Senate to hold 'fireside chat' on diversity

The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate will host a "fireside chat" on the effects of self-segregation tonight, with the goal of bringing together a diverse group of individuals to discuss on-campus diversity issues. The dialogue, sponsored by the Senate's Culture, Ethnicity and Community Affairs (CECA) committee, hopes to explore the way that self-segregation affects the overall atmosphere at Tufts.
    Sophomore Nedghie Adrien, the Pan African Alliance representative on CECA, proposed the idea last semester.
    "It came about from different discussions I've had with friends about how different communities don't interact much with each other, and we wanted to have a discussion about why that is and why people separate themselves," Adrien said. "We want students to feel comfortable to express their different views."
    This event fits into CECA's goal of bringing different ethnic student groups together.
    "The group is meant to address any concerns about diversity issues on campus as well as campus relations with the Medford and Somerville communities," CECA Co-Chair Ryan Heman, a sophomore, said.
    In the past, CECA has been responsible for holding the annual Culture Fest and working on different diversity projects across campus. Representatives from the Pan African Alliance, the Association of Latin American Students, the Queer Straight Alliance and the Asian American Alliance sit on the committee along with six others.
    Representatives from the Africana Center, Asian American Center, International Center, Latino Center, LGBT Center and the Women's Center, collectively known as the "Group of Six," will attend the chat.
    "I think it's a really important issue and I'm looking forward to the conversation," TCU President Duncan Pickard, a junior, said.
    Other cultural groups on campus, as well as Patrick Romero-Aldaz, director of fraternity and sorority affairs, were invited to the event, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in Paige Hall's Crane Room.
    "There are a lot of different groups on campus talking about issues of diversity and we want to start a dialogue about that," Heman said. "We wanted to bring the various diverse communities together and talk about how each community is self-segregated from each other."
    "We're trying to get the most eclectic group of people to have a lot of different ideas and a good discussion," Adrien said.
    The chat also hopes to address any concealed frictions between groups or individuals on campus.
    "I think there are a lot of underlying tensions on campus along socioeconomic and racial lines," said sophomore Chas Morrison, chair of the Senate's Administration and Policy Committee. "I think this sort of discussion is very healthy to air these grievances out in the open and come to a mutual understanding."
    Morrison linked some of these divisions to the Primary Source scandal two years ago. "If people on campus can understand where people are coming from," he said, "that will produce a healthy dialogue that will lead to a healthier campus community."
    Representatives participating in the chat expressed hope that similar discussions will be able to continue and expand in the future.
    "We're looking towards larger sessions where the administration is involved and we'll hopefully have a faculty chairing the debate," Heman said.
    Adrien agreed, hoping that something -- an event to reflect diversity or unity, or another dialogue -- occurs in the future.