On Tuesday, November 9, West Chester students hosted the first Annual Minority Day of Silence. The Minority Day of Silence sought to raise awareness of the discrimination of not just one minority, but all minority groups on campus.The campaign started when West Chester University participated in the Campus Climate Survey, with the purpose of “identifying important action steps to continue the improvement of our campus climate, and to solidify our goals for diversity, inclusivity, and civility.” When the results were returned from the survey, it still showed a relatively high number of people who felt discriminated against and uncomfortable on campus, including people who are part of minority organizations on campus.
“Personally, I do not feel comfortable in majority organizations such as SGA,” said Charmane Martin, event coordinator for the Minority Day of Silence. “I know I am not the only one, and this day is to raise awareness of all minority groups on campus, so that one day we can feel welcomed and included.”
Martin gave out t-shirts to support the event which read “3:15PM: It’s About To Go Down”. There were tables stationed at heavily populated areas on campus at 3:15 p.m. in support for the event. Martin chose 3:15 p.m. as her target time because there were no scheduled classes and there was an anticipated high volume of student traffic. At these tables, volunteers were passing out flyers about the event, and pledge cards for students to sign, should they want to participate in the Minority Day of Silence. Participants in the event chose to remain silent to raise the awareness that although minorities are not the majority on this campus, they still have a voice and wish to accomplish goals of inclusivity on campus. At 7:15 p.m., the volunteers went to the SGA meeting to tell the other organizations what the day was about, and offered suggestions on how SGA can change to meet minorities on the same level.
“According to the campus climate survey, minorities still feel unwelcome and discouraged on our campus to speak out,” said Martin. “I feel like just having something said about the event will allow us to be able to confront the situation more freely and comfortably.” She also hopes that this day will be an opportunity to find ways of making the purpose of the Campus Climate Survey come to life, and that other organizations will take action to ensure that more minority groups feel comfortable on campus.
The Minority Day of Silence was the first step towards solving this problem on campus, with goals of diversity and inclusivity in mind. It is also different than the well-known official Day of Silence, which is meant to support the LGBTQA community. Many of the minority organizations helped Martin with the planning and execution of this event, including the Black Student Union, Asian Student Association, LGBTQA, the Women’s Center Club, and the Black and Latino Greek Council. She hopes that the event will be able to grow and continue, and that through its existance, more minority groups will be able to feel welcome and comfortable on campus.
Carla Giorno is a student at West Chester University. She can be reached at CG633075@wcupa.edu.