In pursuit of practical solutions to racism at Binghamton University, nearly 70 students, faculty, staff and community members gathered to discuss racial identities and recent events in a public deliberation on Tuesday evening.

Held in the University Union, “A Public Deliberation: The State of Race at Binghamton University” was hosted by the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), the Dean of Students Office, Residential Life and Broome Community College’s President’s Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion. Since 2014, the offices have worked in collaboration to foster conversation on racism and put forth policy in an effort to combat it.

Lea Webb, diversity specialist for DEI, said the organizers chose to hold a public deliberation because it centers on individual beliefs and experiences.

“We take this head-on in this particular structure, but we do it in a way where it doesn’t become a debate,” Webb said. “We’re hoping that you will connect with other folks here in the room, share your experiences, your thoughts and your perspectives.”

Two trained facilitators were seated at each table and guided participants through four frames of discussion surrounding race at BU, which originated from the 2015 Campus Climate Survey and past deliberations. The four topics included the psychological impact of racism, the limited knowledge of policies to help stop racism from occurring, the idea that racism arises due to the lack of diversity in staff, faculty, administration and students and the lack of a direct conversation about race relations on campus.

The session discussions touched on recent incidents on campus, including a Binghamton Review article published last week, which many considered homophobic, and an email sent by Victor Skormin, professor of electrical and computer engineering, which many called racist. Ideas for preventing future incidents were proposed, including a mandated faculty, staff and student training session on how to handle racist incidents at BU.

Webb said the ideas generated from the event will be added to a policy brief on race relations on campus that will be presented to the University in fall 2018.

While the event started with a full room, by the two-hour mark, attendance dwindled down to around 20 students.

Louis LaSpina, a junior double-majoring in psychology and human development, said he was disappointed in the deliberation.

“A lot of this event, unfortunately, individualizes many of the systemic and institutional issues that we have and even creates this dichotomy where we allow for the administration to take a good cop versus bad cop role,” LaSpina said. “The DEI often falls into this role of bad cop where they have to clean up the messes of [the administration’s] lack of transparency and overall, lack of accountability.”

LaSpina said he believes the organizers should focus on creating events that would serve as an educational and disciplinary opportunity for those who display racist behavior at BU.

“One of the main things is having these sort of events, but having them in a way that isn’t going to attract the same people that are interested in these events,” LaSpina said. “So creating accountability for when professors, staff or students are found to have committed explicitly or covertly racist or discriminatory actions, being forced as a means of repercussion to attend these sorts of training sessions.”

University President Harvey Stenger and Dean of Students April Thompson were not present at the meeting.

Abby Melillo, an undeclared freshman, said she enjoyed the discussions in her small group, but felt the format could be improved.

“There was a lot of openness in sharing opinions, but it definitely could have been better and more directed in addressing potential solutions,” Melillo said. “But I think it’s a great starting point for the future.”

According to Webb, the deliberation aimed to come up with policy and practical solutions to a variety of wide-ranging problems and was not strictly a space to discuss recent issues. But she said there may need to be a forum in the future where people can discuss specific racist incidents.