Faculty and students met in the basement of the student center Wednesday to address issues concerning on-campus student life. The purpose of the meeting was for administrators and faculty to discuss with students in person what the student experience is like and how they can help improve daily life on Marshall’s campus.

The topics discussed included last year’s controversy with students writing “Build that Wall” on Marshall’s campus in relation to how INTO students felt in regards to their safety and overall feeling of being welcomed on campus. Also discussed was university support of student planned events and how some student organizations felt that they weren’t being treated equally. The most time consuming topics of the night were race and diversity on campus.

“I’m very thankful that race came up,” said Matt James, assistant dean of student affairs. “Like President Gilbert alluded to, race is still very much an issue. A lot of people live in this idealistic world that once we elected an African American president eight years ago that somehow race relations were going to instantly change, that we are in a post racial society.”

President Gilbert was in attendance at the meeting and students expressed their appreciation for President Gilbert’s presence in the room.

“For the president to be in attendance was very impactful for our conversation and let us as know that our opinion matters and isn’t overlooked,” said Tony Jernigan II, a junior biology pre-med major. “The topics discussed tonight were needed. For a lot of the students this was the first event where they got a chance to express themselves whole-heartedly. Having President Gilbert in attendance didn’t hinder people in regard to expressing their opinion, which is great. For him to establish that open relationship with students that encourage us to speak our mind isn’t underappreciated. I’m excited for future meetings to see how interaction between him and the students develop.”

“I thought the topics discussed were very powerful,” President Gilbert said. “I think this is a great start to a dialogue on campus where we need to talk about things that are real issues.”

Faculty and administrative representatives encouraged the students in attendance to spread the word about these events.

“We want to get more insight on the average student experience, just because you may not be in a prominent leadership role that doesn’t mean your opinion doesn’t matter,” said James.

The next event is scheduled on Sept. 20 at 3:30 p.m. in the South First Year Residence Hall class room.

Kyle Camacho can be contacted at [email protected].