WILKES-BARRE, Pa.
The diversity training consultant called one Wilkes University student of Indian descent a “terrorist.” He also had student athletes at a diversity retreat call another student “Chink” — as a means of making the derogatory words lose their power.
They didn’t lose their power, but his boss lost her job.
“An event intended to bring students together and improve relationships ended up bringing them further apart,” says university spokesman Jack Chielli.
The diversity consultant, who acknowledges making mistakes during the retreat exercises, says the incident was just the excuse university officials needed to get rid of the newly hired multicultural affairs coordinator, Andita Parker-Lloyd. He contends that she was forced out after she had filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Wilkes-Barre following a February traffic-stop arrest.
“Wilkes has always been my second home. I was a student here,” Parker-Lloyd says. “I feel we were making great inroads around diversity and getting all types of students involved in campuswide diversity efforts.”
The incident that precipitated Parker-Lloyd’s dismissal began the weekend of Sept. 8, during a two-day retreat for a dozen student leaders led by diversity trainer Ron Feldhun. Feldhun says he sought to address perceptions and desensitize the students to hurtful words by using them repeatedly.
