USG, Carl A. Fields Center form Monthly Cultural Leaders Summit

The USG and Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding have established the Monthly Cultural Leaders Summit, a collection of representatives from various minority groups on campus.

Its first meeting was held on March 7.

Though in the past, both organizations have made similar efforts, this is the first time the two have worked together to form such a summit.

The collaboration of the USG and the Fields Center will provide a greater incentive for multicultural student groups to send and continue sending representatives to the summit's meetings, William Robinson '04, Undergraduate Life Committee Chair, said.

"It would be run through the Fields Center," Robinson said. "They're overseeing it, but we have a connection to it and we helped establish it. And that way maybe the minority leaders will feel like it may be worth their while if it's connected to both because that way they can address all their concerns."

Robinson said both the Fields Center and the USG have resources to help them with some of their concerns.

The USG is eager to demonstrate its commitment to using its resources to address issues raised by multicultural student groups — a commitment that has formerly been questioned, Robinson said.

"Students have expressed concerns in the past that the USG has not been accepting to minority students' needs and while the USG might not necessarily agree with this statement, we are concerned by it and want to really show that we do want to help out in any way we can," Robinson said.

This time around, the USG wanted to do things the right way. After consulting administrators, it decided to approach Taufiq Rahim '04, Chair of the Fields Center Governance Board, about a collaborative effort — and the Monthly Cultural Leaders Summit was born.

Seven of the twelve multicultural student groups invited to attend the first meeting of the summit sent representatives. Robinson said this meeting was organized hastily, which may account for the other groups' absences. Emails were recently sent to the groups that did not attend and most replied they would send representatives in the future, Robinson said.

"All the groups that did show up at the first meeting have said that they think this is a great idea, they really enjoyed how the first meeting went and they are committed to sending two representatives each month from now on as long as we keep making it worth their while—and I'm positive that we will," Robinson said.

Ayana Harry '05, Vice-President of the Black Student Union, attended the meeting and felt it was very productive. Harry emphasized the importance of having a unified voice for minority groups.

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"I think this definitely has a more promising future. So many people are pulling for this to work," said Harry, who is also president of the Minority Business Association and social chair of the Fields Center.

Improving pre-frosh weekend was the short-term goal discussed at the meeting. Multicultural student groups advertise their events this specific weekend, but don't feel like they receive enough emphasis to make students aware they are worthwhile to attend, Robinson said.

These groups would work together through the summit to create a master list of multicultural events on campus this weekend and advertise each other's events as well as their own. An event at the Fields Center — open to all interested pre-frosh and students — with representatives from multicultural student groups was also discussed.

"[Pre-frosh weekend] is the one chance that these groups have to contact these students and tell them — not just impress them with Princeton and show them that there are people like them there, that's not the goal — the goal is to see if they have any questions and tell them honestly about their Princeton experience, and they really want people to experience that," Robinson said.

Other issues raised at the meeting included recruiting more minority professors, increasing cultural understanding through more organized discussion and adding a cultural requirement to the list of requisite A.B. classes — a requirement that many schools now have, Robinson said.

He said some of the groups expressed interest in obtaining a list of admitted students associated with its particular minority group from the admissions office prior to the start of the academic year, allowing groups to contact the students and answer any questions they might have.

The idea is similar to the way in which University religious organizations receive the names of students who have marked a particular religious preference on one of the many forms filled out prior to the commencement of the fall semester.

The next meeting of the Monthly Cultural Leaders Summit is scheduled for April 4.