By Ella Prieto, Assistant News Editor
On Tuesday, the Gettysburg College chapter of the American Anti-Racism Alliance (AARA) hosted a lunch conversation from 12-1 p.m. in the College Union Building. The AARA grew from a “A Long Talk” conversation held in September 2020. AARA is a grassroots organization that aims to promote anti-racism throughout the nation.
Community member and former college employee, Alison Singley, spearheaded the Gettysburg College chapter. She described the goal of the Gettysburg College AARA chapter to be “continuously putting a culture of anti-racism and inclusivity in front of the administration.”
Faculty and employees from many departments, including the Eisenhower Institute, Musselman Library, and the Garthwait Leadership Center, attended the most recent chapter meeting. Facilities and Housekeeping employee Jacqueline Wilkins and Chairperson and Physics Professor Bret Crawford were also in attendance.
The meeting began with a discussion on recent acts of discrimination against people of color on campus. The group then worked through some ideas of how to combat this growing issue.
One idea was to increase the involvement of Residential Assistants (RAs) and Community Assistants (CAs) in the conversation. An attendee elaborated that RAs and CAs often have the most interaction with students, so they have the most chances of seeing discrimination firsthand. Furthermore, certain RAs and CAs are vigilant in stopping and preventing racial discrimination, so the college should highlight these members of the community and try to learn from them.
The conversation then flowed to the results of the recent Campus Climate Survey. A participant felt that the numbers of this survey did not represent the reality of racial discrimination on campus. In addition, those who face racial discrimination have few places to express their grievances due to a lack of trust in college officials. The group considered some alternative resources to express those grievances.
Following this discussion, an attendee mentioned a recent experience with hiring a new employee. The attendee said that the college currently does not pay for any job-hiring platforms that specifically targets people of color, such as Diversity Job Board or HBCU Connect.
Other participants explained how departments at the college are encouraged to have a diverse group of applicants when hiring. However, the departments are de-incentivized to access these job hiring platforms because they have to pay for them, rather than the college doing so.
The group agreed that job hiring platforms focusing on people of color should be offered as a standard option to departments at the college looking to hire, not something they have to seek out and pay for with their own money. To bring attention to this issue, the chapter planned to write a letter to President Iuliano at a future meeting.
Attendees then transitioned into another issue at the college, which is that it still operates normal hours on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Those present remarked on how many other colleges and universities have off on this day and concurred that this issue should also be included in a letter to the Iuliano.
The meeting concluded with a handout by Singley from “Do the Work! An Antiracist Activity Book,” which listed alternative numbers to the police that are equipped for specific situations. These numbers included the Suicide Hotline, a Crisis Intervention Hotline, the Adams County Homeless Shelter, Safe Home YWCA Hanover, and more.
The next meeting of the AARA will take place Feb. 22 in CUB 208 from 12-1 p.m.
