NEW ORLEANS—More than 3,500 students, faculty and staff from colleges and universities across the nation are gathering here this week to engage in critical discussions about race relations on their college campus in particular, and in society in general.
This year’s meeting of the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE) in Higher Education comes a day after comedian Roseanne Barr was fired from her sitcom following a racist tirade on Twitter directed at Valerie Jarrett, who served as a senior adviser during the Obama administration.
Many of the NCORE participants say they’ve witnessed the escalation of racist comments on college campuses in the year since President Donald J. Trump took office. The opportunity to meet and strategize on how best to promote diversity and inclusion has been the organization’s focus since it held its first convening back in 1988 on the campus of the University of Oklahoma.
“The community we establish this week represents one of the most important, comprehensive ongoing dialogues about race and inclusion in America,” said Dr. Belinda P. Biscoe, interim vice president of University Outreach and director of the Public and Community Services Division at the University of Oklahoma. “We are looking for ways to improve our campuses and our country and reimagine what equity and access mean for our institutions.”
Biscoe oversees the Southwest Center for Human Relations Studies, which houses NCORE.
For years, colleges and universities have sent representatives to the five-day conference to share best practices, strategize about diversity initiatives and engage in tough and difficult conversations about race.
Biscoe said participants are encouraged to reimagine how their colleges and universities can be more equitable and accessible, even as they work on improving campus climate issues. The recent wave of racial incidents on campuses across the nation should be reason for real alarm, said Symone Sanders, a political commentator on CNN who previously served as presidential campaign press secretary for U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
