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Provost addresses student concerns

It's been a little more than two weeks since Robert Shelton first met on the South Building steps with African-American students who had a list of concerns and issues they wanted the University administration to address.

Shelton, Carolina's executive vice chancellor and provost, has continued meeting with the students, and he said the general tone of the discussions has been constructive and cooperative.

Everyone realizes that "we need to get down to business and make specific progress," Shelton said.

Shelton first met with the students on April 6, four days after students representing a newly formed group called "On the Wake of Emancipation" marched on campus to raise issues about the racial climate here not only for African-American students but for African-American staff members. A second meeting was held April 16.

The march was triggered by the controversy conservative provocateur David Horowitz stirred on college campuses throughout the country when he placed ads in college newspapers listing arguments against paying reparations to the descendents of slaves.

On April 2, the same day of the march, The Daily Tar Heel ran a column written by Horowitz on the subject, along with other columns that dealt with some aspect of the issue.

The list of concerns that Shelton is addressing with students, however, deals with specific campus concerns, including the need to hire more African-American faculty and for faculty and staff to undergo mandatory "sensitivity training" on matters of race.

Other University administrators who attended these meetings are Sue Kitchen, vice chancellor for student affairs; Archie Ervin, director of the Office of Minority Affairs; and Melissa Exum from the student affairs office.

Shelton said he is confident that all of the students' concerns can be addressed, but the details and depth of actions still are being worked out.

"Equally important, we are assembling a list of prior actions and specific steps taken that dealt with a number of the issues raised," Shelton said. "This will ensure we are all working from the same set of information."

Shelton said the episode says something good about Carolina students' engagement in campus issues.

"I am heartened by

the way students are engaged in campus issues," Shelton said. "They feel passionately about making Carolina the best and ensuring that the atmosphere here is optimal for our entire community."

At each of these meetings, Shelton said, "I learned more of Carolina's history, of the perspective of some of its students and of their commitment to work with the administration, faculty and staff to promote Carolina to even higher quality."

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