The Student Government Association (SGA) is hosting an open panel on Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. in Watkins Auditorium to shed light on the effects of race in the classroom and how it specifically is related to the African American student and their experience during their academic careers.
This panel will focus on the challenges that African American students may face while attending classes at a Predominantly White Institution (P.W.I.). UTM qualifies as a P.W.I. because as of results from 2016-17 data, the white student population is at 77.1 percent.
SGA President, Devin Majors, and SGA Multicultural Affairs Committee Chairman, Dekota “Jagger” Lampkins, partnered with many organizations on campus, such as the Black Student Association and the Civil Rights Planning Committee to organize the panel.
“The overall goal of this event is to provide an opportunity for the UT Martin community, especially our professors and other faculty members that work with students of color, to learn about many of the challenges that their minority students face in the classroom,” Majors said. “We hope that by attending the panel that these professors can get a better understanding of their students of color which will help everyone at the university moving forward.”
The panel will be followed by a Q&A format session which will allow the audience to share their own stories and get a deeper understanding of the issues discussed during the panel.
More information leading up to the panel can be found on the SGA’s Orgsync page https://orgsync.com/871/chapter.
