A forum entitled “Racism, Power and Privilege at UIUC” this afternoon in Foellinger Auditorium aims to allow the campus community to sound off on the issue of race. Held in response to the growing tensions on campus, the event is jointly sponsored by Chancellor Herman and a group called Students Transforming Oppression and Privilege (S.T.O.P.), which formed in the aftermath of last semester’s “Tacos and Tequila” incident. Unfortunately, the publicity campaign for this event has done little to encourage a truly open discussion on an important campus problem.

It’s billed as an open forum and, strangely, as little else. This event has been mired by a lack of details. Aside from mass e-mails sent out by the Chancellor, the only source of information openly available to students and faculty has been a poster. It shows a fiery Altgeld Hall adorned with a blue flag containing an emblem of the Chief with silhouettes of people with their fists in the air. Worse still, it provides no information such as the structure of the forum or even potential attendees or moderators. It merely refers readers to a Web site of a prominent anti-Chief organization called I Resist!, which provides little information.

This lack of openness on a forum designed to promote openness undermines the noble purpose of the event. The overt theme of revolution and the blatant anti-Chief agenda taken by the event’s promoters has hindered any attempts at promoting open dialogue.

Any expectations for balance of ideology in the forum are ill-founded considering the seemingly unwelcome environment that awaits those who disagree with the organizers. It has been set up in such a way so as to encourage the venting of anger on the issue, rather than to promote progress toward a solution to the problem of racial tension on campus.

In light of these criticisms, we must unfortunately recommended that students and faculty don’t attend the forum today.

We had high hopes that this event would be a catalyst for change. But, based on what we have seen, this forum is more likely to degenerate into a shouting match that will produce no progress and leave the campus community as divided as ever.

This is why we propose that Chancellor Herman and the rest of the administration sponsor a truly balanced forum on race and identity on campus. Only the University is capable of bringing together groups from all viewpoints. With a moderator with no ties with the campus who is both willing and knowledgeable about the issues on this campus, there is a possibility that a fruitful discussion will take place.