Students discuss issues at forum
Event programmers not discouraged by low attendance

By Jillanne Johnson
Staff Reporter

Lack of passion is the reason Erma Hadley-Johnson, vice president for administration at Tarrant County College, said few students came to the inaugural “Critical Issues Forum.”

The event, meant to celebrate Black History Month, was sponsored by Programming Council and the Office for Diversity and Community.

Although Cornell Thomas, special assistant to the chancellor for diversity and community, expected over 200 students to attend the debate Monday night, one faculty member and fewer than 50 students attended the forum.

“Based on publicity, we (were) hoping to have a full house,” Thomas said.

Mary Williams - Skiff Staff Cornell Thomas, special assistant to the chancellor on diversity and community, opens the “Critical Issues Forum” Monday at the Student Center Ballroom. School vouchers and affirmative action were among the topics discussed.

Sarah Komenda, vice-president of PC, said the event was meant to offer different points of view on current issues.

“(The forum) gives a different perspective rather than the traditional Republican point of view,” Komenda said.

Jenn Perry, the director of finance for PC, said the event started out as a Black History Month debate. However, the final topic was “The Bush Administration: What to Expect During the Next Four Years” and focused on school vouchers and affirmative action. Students had the opportunity to ask panel members questions based on the panel’s discussion about each issue.

“It’s Black History Month combined with current events,” Perry said. “Rather than being a historical approach it has a current event approach.”

Despite positive response to publicity, Komenda did not expect high attendance because the forum was during the week of mid-terms.

Perry said the issue was to educate those who did attend and did not feel panel members would not be discouraged by low attendance.

“Educating just a few is better than not educating anyone,” Perry said. “If there is a low attendance they are educating the few who are going to be active, because the leaders are the ones who come to everything.”

Johnson said she agreed. She said because everything seems to be going well for students at TCU so very few get involved with issues like school vouchers and affirmative action.

Johnson said students don’t understand the debates, which are centered around issues concerning poor people who tend to have less choices.

“You don’t even know what I’m talking about when I talk about poor people,” Johnson said. “Everything is really good and (students) haven’t developed a passion yet.”

Students also suffer from information overload. Tucker said there are too many issues and students prefer to focus on the most controversial.

“There are full agendas and often diversity is an old adage,” Tucker said. “Been there, done that and it’s not sexy.”

Thomas said he hopes this event was the first panel of many about these issues. He said students had the opportunity to evaluate the program and provide input about future events.

Jillanne Johnson
j.johnson@student.tcu.edu