The Undergraduate Student Government general council met and heard from Dr. Elizabeth Wilkinson and Dr. Xiaowen Guan, members of the Anti-Racism Coalition, on Oct. 24.

Wilkinson and Guan gave a synopsis on the work of the faculty who make up Anti-Racism Coalition and took questions from general council members. Wilkinson responded to the idea that professors aren’t doing enough to address racism in curriculum.

“Bringing (racial issues) up is important, but we as professors feel phenomenally vulnerable when we do that, and specifically professors who are not tenured or professors who are adjunct,” Wilkinson said about using curriculum to combat racism in the classroom.

Faculty involvement on Anti-Racism Coalition

USG members expressed concern about pushback from executive vice president and provost, Richard Plumb.

“I think my greatest concern is that the office of the provost doesn’t seem very receptive to any of this, based on what students know about the provost, he is not very receptive to these ideas,” said Aria St. James, vice president of student affairs.

Guan responded to these concerns by saying “a lot of us are protected by tenure, which allow us to be able to speak a little more freely, however, even with tenure protection, there are still politics at play.”

Malcom Lawson, senior class president, also expressed support for the faculty involved with ARC and advocated for students and faculty to work together to get things implemented.

“I understand the position where, at the end of the day, faculty have their jobs to worry about,” Lawson said. “When you’re getting pushback on certain things you’re trying to do, I personally feel that your greatest asset is us.”

Teacher evaluations

IDEA forms, used to evaluate professors based on student feedback, were also discussed, shedding some light on things that don’t involve high student awareness. Guan said the forms are biased against women and professors of color.

“If it disadvantages a certain group of faculty, and that affects our tenure and evaluation, that also affects our annual pay, which means that people who are a minority or female, are less likely to get promoted and tenured to keep their employment here,” Guan said.

The push to eliminate IDEA forms did not pass in the faculty senate last spring. Guan said this measure not being passed was related to the fact that “it doesn’t affect them (members of faculty senate), most faculty senators are white. They don’t see it as significant.”

Club funding

In budget requests, the general council approved internal finances of $20,060 to 10 clubs.

Campus-wide requests approved included $314.50 to Students for Human Life for its campus showing of the film “Unplanned,” and $3,000 to St. Jude at St. Thomas for its club finale event, pending an agreement with the club that students do not have to raise $100 in order to attend the event like the club originally planned.

Conference and competition requests approved were $441.51 for one event and $250 for another event to Delta Sigma Pi to attend different leadership events. Gamma Iota Sigma was also approved for $2,500 to attend an international conference.

Bylaws for the handling of club debt will change pending council approval. The process is “very vague,” according to Derek Nauman, vice president of financial affairs. The bylaws have been rewritten in order to give the process structure, and will be voted on next meeting of the general council.

Abby Sliva can be reached at sliv7912@stthomas.edu.