Sustained Dialogue resumes race discussions

A student group devoted to discussing race relations on campus is back up and running this fall after addressing organizational difficulties and a lack of support that forced it to close last year.

Sustained Dialogue, which strives to improve race relations within the student body, has started anew with a full board of officers, enthusiastic members and regular meetings, said club president Tyler Kuhn '06.

"Last year, the necessary conditions were not met to get all of the groups going at the same time," Kuhn said. "It wasn't a coordinated, central effort."

Publicity chair Stephanie Tung '07 attributed some of the new board's success to meetings with the officers of the University of Virginia chapter of Sustained Dialogue.

"We used some of those ideas to bring it back here," she said.

Both groups feature in a professionally-filmed DVD that illustrates the concept behind Sustained Dialogue, as well as its activities on campuses across the country.

Another impetus to revive Sustained Dialogue was last spring's campus race relations survey, which revealed the prevalence of self-segregation in the student body and dissatisfaction with the social scene at the Street.

"Last year's race survey confirms that race is still a serious problem on campus," Kuhn said. "It is so wonderful to have a really strong discussion that can transform these relationships from the survey."

Following today's kickoff retreat at the Frist Campus Center, the group will host dinners five nights per week in residential colleges and eating clubs to bring together students of diverse backgrounds to discuss racism and discrimination. By the end of the year, a project to address these issues should be in the making.

"The first stage of the process is getting people committed to figuring out what is a major race problem on campus," said Dialogue Secretary Sian O'Faolain '08. "And then, we hopefully be able to work towards improving race relations with people who you would normally not work with."

The key to these discussions lies in the creation of a comfort zone in which individuals can express their opinions, said Sustained Dialogue Recruitment Chair Kamilla Hassen '08.

"You don't have to worry about offending anyone," she said. "You can just get the stereotypes out there and talk about different perspectives. Then, we can discuss how to come to different conclusions."

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Kuhn is very optimistic about the success of the club this year, noting a strong showing at the Student Activities Fair.

"Sustained Dialogue is back, and that is great," he said.

Sustained Dialogue was launched at the University in 1999 due to the initiative of a group of students concerned by race problems on campus. The idea was based on an international model created by Dr. Harold Saunders, who created a forum for individuals of various backgrounds to discuss Arab and Israeli conflict in the 1970s.