Racism action teams met this summer and plan to launch several initiatives, a Ball State University administrator said.Kay Bales, vice president of Student Affairs, said three action teams have each produced an element to go into effect Fall Semester. The campus safety team has been working on a protocol to help students file complaints or report incidences of bias. Michele Faroh, Student Government Association secretary, said she was glad students will have someone to talk to."The whole point is if something would happen to a student, they need to know where to go," Faroh said.This protocol would also show students that there are consequences to racist actions."If students know what repercussions they would face, it might make them think twice," Faroh said.The campus programing team has been working on a Web site that will provide diversity resources to students and is ready to be launched Monday when students return to classes.The education and development group prepared a workshop in collaboration with the Diversity Policy Institute and has been presenting it to professors this week during faculty orientation programs, Bales said.This team is also working closely with the Core Curriculum task force to make sure the new curriculum reflects a need for each student to understand diversity, Bales said.The teams have done well in producing effective material and resources, Bales said."I think it is productive," she said. "There is a number of people who have recognized that there are some issues we need to address and I do think we're on the right track."Bales said when the action teams came together, it seemed as if there would be a stopping point, but it became clear that it would be something to continue."I think when we originally started the action team, we thought that there would be an endpoint, but their work would live on," she said. "I think that as people came together and people began examining these issues that this would have a life beyond a semester or two."She said the teams will be assessed at the end of Fall Semester, when they would decide what further actions needed to be taken.
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