A newly formed task force is planning an open dialogue to discuss the roles of diversity and racism on ETSU’s campus.
The task force, comprised of students, faculty and staff, was formed in response to photographs that emerged from a fraternity party that showed several white members wearing blackface makeup while dressed as black celebrities. The fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, has received sensitivity training in response to the incident. But Dean of Students Joe Sherlin, who presides over the task force, said that there are more problems on campus than this one particular event.
“After the incident, the coordinator of Greek life and I went out to talk with student groups,” Sherlin said, “and as we started that process, we heard other concerns that were not specifically related to (blackface).”
Ash-Lee Henderson, former president of ETSU’s Black Affairs Association and current task force member, said that after the blackface incident, she heard concerns from students of various ethnic and social standings.
“These aren’t just African-American students,” Henderson said. “Students in the LGBTQA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, questioning and allied) community have said they don’t feel tolerated. Many women don’t feel that this is a safe environment.”
Lea Brown, chairwoman of ETSU’s Race Relations Standing Committee, has heard student’s concerns about their treatment by faculty, as well as other students.
“We’ve heard issues about classes, some of the statements that professors make in class that pertain to racial stereotypes,” Brown said.
In order to combat the far-reaching problem of discrimination on campus, the task force’s primary function will be to encourage communication between both individuals and organizations that are concerned with race relations on campus. Although there are numerous campus organizations with similar goals, Henderson said that a great benefit of the task force would be its timeliness in dealing with these student concerns.
“There are many, many other organizations that talk about long-term plans for diversity,” Henderson said, “and this task force, in my opinion, was created to bring about a plan that will focus on the immediate need for change.”
The need for immediacy was a constant topic of conversation during the task force’s second meeting last Friday. The group hopes to organize and hold a public dialogue about blackface some time before the end of the semester. Their goal is to promote understanding about diversity, and particularly to educate the public on the subject of blackface.
“I think the people that actually committed the act should be talked to,” said Sean Hinton, treasurer for Black Affairs who was present for the meeting, “but I think they just need to learn what other black students feel about blackface. They deserve an opportunity to sit down and be educated.”
In order to create an educational, and comfortable, atmosphere, the task force plans to have a panel of select students who will introduce the various topics. After the topics are introduced, the floor will be yielded to the people in attendance to share their thoughts on the subject.
SGA president T.J. Mitchell, who also attended the meeting, hopes to rally student organizations to participate in the dialogue in an effort to broaden its effects.
“I think it’s going to be a good learning experience for everybody,” Mitchell said. “Just being in that meeting, I felt like we were all learning things as we went. I hope that what would end up happening is that it’ll foster more communication between students and groups.”
The task force plans to invite representatives from every Greek organization, including Sig Ep, to participate in the dialogue. Currently the dialogue is planned to take place during the first week of December, but the date, time and location are still undecided.

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