ACU’s first-ever Diversity Council meeting discussed important matters on-campus for students Aug. 3.
Phil Schubert, president of the university, was pleased with how the first meeting transpired.
“I was encouraged and energized by the level of engagement in the meeting,” Schubert said. “Council members posed good questions and ideas and entered into healthy dialogue.”
The council consists of several student leaders on campus along with respective faculty members.
Dr. Steven Moore, Director of McNair Scholars Program and professor of English, serves on the council.
“I feel honored to be on the council,” Moore said. “I think it is very historic right now, and everyone has been saying that. It’s just great that we have faculty, staff and students from different backgrounds on the council.”
Moore was energized and proud to see the university taking extra steps to combat issues on-campus.
“My big takeaways from the first meeting were that I was so pleased and happy to know that Dr. Phil Schubert is our president and that our Senior Leadership Team is making this a top priority,” Moore said. “I think that is excellent to do right now, especially with everything going on in this country.”
Some of the top issues discussed during the meeting were campus climate and how the council can help attain a more substantial impact for a better on-campus environment.
“The work of the Diversity Council will help ensure that ACU leaders evaluate initiatives designed to foster a more racially and culturally diverse, supportive environment on the ACU campus,” Schubert said.
Moore also addressed classroom diversity, citing that there is much more to accomplish.
“I hope we talk about curricular changes, and that’s what I am eager to see,” Moore said. “A lot of colleges like ACU, when you go through classes, diversity is lacking. We are going to address those issues and make sure that the issues of diversity is going to be introduced in some of the classes we teach.”
Schubert believes that the council will help build an everlasting impact for the university aimed at inclusion and equity for all students, faculty and staff.
The Diversity Council hopes to meet again within the next couple of weeks.
“We need to address systemic racism, and we need to address these institutions and organizations that are oppressing people of color,” Moore said. “This is a very important undertaking that we are doing, and I think we have a spiritual reason for being on this council.”
