Audio report by MADISON BLOOMQUIST/Murphy News Service
By ELLEN SCHMIDT/Murphy News Service
A room full of students staff, and administrators gathered in Coffman Memorial Union Thursday to discuss pressing social issues around the world and on campus.
The Campus Climate Work Group event, “From Mizzou to Minnesota: Dialogue to Action,” provided a neutral environment for discussion on the recent attacks in Paris and Beirut, the Minneapolis Fourth Precinct protests, and student protests at the University.
“The kind of work we’re doing here should be connected to what’s going on out there,” said University senior Ken Gonzales, one of the event’s speakers.
The meeting took the form of a marketplace of ideas, where hot-topic conversation points were addressed to the crowd, then placed at tables so people could decide which conversations they wanted to contribute to.
Students wanted to talk about a wide range of topics, including Islamophobia, effective ways to protest and white privilege, among other things.
“The point of a protest is to make people uncomfortable,” University student Alia Jeraj said. “And to make people think about why they’re uncomfortable.”
Minnesota Student Association Vice President Abeer Syedah talked about how at a young age, she didn’t understand why protesters would want to shut down a highway until she pondered what their motives were.
“What is it that makes you inconvenience my life?” Syedah said.
Putting herself in the shoes of someone who stands in the middle of a highway spurred her to learn why, and try to understand. Conversation about important issues changes lives, she said.
The conversation turned to the Mizzou protests, with the group consensus being that the protests were effective because of the people involved. With the entire University of Missouri football team in the mix, and a large sum of money on the line, the removal of the school’s top administrator wasn’t surprising. It shouldn’t get to that point though, Student Fatima Ahmad said.
“With protesting, there is a balance between who you are upsetting,” University student Summer Freed said.
The open discussion event ended with each group’s summary of their topic, presented to the less than half of students that stayed until the end. No consensus was drawn on any topic, but students were able to discuss relevant and timely concerns in a safe space.
Reporter Ellen Schmidt is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.