Story by Natalie Demaree, December 29, 2020

Student initiatives demanding inclusivity and anti-racism are catching the attention of administrators at the University of Arkansas. 

  According to UA enrollment reports for Fall 2020, 4.5 percent of students are Black or African American.

  “There’s a lot of conversation that’s been happening, a lot of special committees that have been developed to look at things,” said Valandra, former director of African and African American Studies at UA, who has a doctorate in social work.  

  Chancellor Steinmetz penned a letter to the campus community June 17, 2020 in response to the hashtag #BlackatUARK promising stronger diversity, equity and inclusion. Many students and faculty members are wondering what is being done to not only keep this commitment but set the precedent for the future of the campus community.

  “I have been reading #blackatUARK and I hear you. Your experiences are powerful, painful testaments to the vital work we need to do to make our campus equitable and inclusive,” Steinmetz said in a tweet. “These hard, real discussions are an important step to affect change together. #UARK” 

  As a direct response to the #BlackatUARK tweets, the Chancellor announced in a press release that he was meeting weekly with an advisory group of Black student leaders. Soon after, UA also began a session series called “Transforming U of A: Combatting Racism to Build a More Inclusive Campus,” facilitated by the Office for Diversity and Inclusion. The goal of this series was to inform a campus action plan in order to develop a more inclusive campus climate, according to a UA press release. 

  The Black Student Caucus at UA, which is not a registered student organization, also retweeted many #BlackatUARK tweets and posted a list of 15 demands for policy reforms on campus. 

  “Black Student Caucus endeavors to reclaim like ‘diversity and inclusivity.’ Oftentimes, diversity and inclusivity are cloaked, skeletal terms that never truly result in tranquility and happiness for the very group it is supposed to be including,” the Black Student Caucus said July 6 in a media statement.

  Included in the list, is a call for more Black staff in both the Pat Walker Health Center and the Office of Student Standards and Conduct, the removal of two statues on campus and the renaming of the dining hall, a redefinition of the hate speech policy in the handbook and more funding for Black students. 

  “We seek happiness, wholeness, and fulfillment for Black students at the University of Arkansas,” the Caucus said in the statement.

  Valandra said that one of the problems in addressing issues on campus is euphemism in speech surrounding topics on race and inequality. 

  “We are talking about structural issues of disparity that have been around for centuries,” Valandra said. 

  The office of equal opportunity and compliance has developed an initiative called “We Are Committed to ACT.” Valandra said she thinks this issue is unique because the program addresses the term civility, along with the terms diversity and inclusion. 

  “It’s one of the first times that I have heard that word used in relationship to the University,” she said. 

  Including civility in the initiative means that addressing formal politeness and courtesies will be involved, adding a whole new dimension to the conversation. 

  The three letters of this initiative stand for aiding in stopping the acts or incidents of discrimination, and sexual misconduct, championing inclusive excellence and telling someone who can take action about your concerns, according to the ACT website. 

  The action plan focuses on four focus areas including communication, which focuses on branding the initiative, programming and collaboration both short-term and long-term, reinforcement and guidance on policy and procedures and identifying resources to help the initiative remain. 

“We must emphasize this commitment to inclusion so diversity, access, equity and civility become part of the fabric of our institution,” the ACT website states.

  Though the initiative is still in the data-gathering stage, Valandra said she thinks new policies will be developed through it. 

  Steven Caldwell, who has a doctorate in musical arts and serves as the chair of the faculty senate, said they took up and passed about two proposals, with several more underway, as a result of some of the discussions that took place over the summer and into the beginning of the semester. 

  “The process through which policy is changed on the University—it’s not a slow process, but it’s an involved process, and it goes through many steps,” Caldwell said. 

  The week of August 22, just before classes started, the faculty senate approved an update to the language surrounding the definition of harassment in the student policy handbook which now includes more platforms, such as social media, through which students are harassed, he said. This was a response to changes recommended as a result of the #BlackatUARK tweets, Caldwell said.

  He said another policy proposal, recommended by Dean Koski, that recently passed nearly unanimously, recommended a change to the membership of the UA’s Committee on Courses and Programming. The new language now requires there to be an undergraduate student member selected by the Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and one graduate student member selected by the Black Graduate Student Association. 

“We usually do not have students of color on the curricular review portion of this committee,” Caldwell said. “So the change was, can we make it more intentional so that we reserve a seat that is specific for Black students, so that they have greater agency over curricular changes here at the University.”

  Along with those changes, there are also committees, one of which he is on, that are re-examining the names of Fulbright college, the statue outside of the building and the name of Brough on Brough commons, he said.

  Those committees are also still in the “listening” stage, meaning that they have not yet had any debate on the issue, but are hearing from several different members of the community including members of the Associated Student Government, Black and white students and Black and white alumni, Caldwell stated. 

  “I cannot in any real, meaningful way even try to predict how that committee might rule because we have not discussed it,” Caldwell said. “Now the listening period is finishing up, or is now completely finished. We’re about to go into the discussion period of the charge. But right now I cannot predict how the committee may or may not rule.” 

Caldwell said he expects that with time there will be more discussions on the floor of the faculty senate as a result of student movements.