Only five students attended the quarterly Chancellor’s Roundtable last Wednesday.
Chancellor Daniel L. Ritchie commented on the small turnout. “This is the smallest crowd I’ve ever seen,” he said.
One of the attendees, graduate student Carol Vernon, expressed her concerns about the lack of respect for conservative views.
Vernon, a student from the Graduate School of Social Work, said professors in her classes had strong liberal beliefs, but didn’t allow other stances to be heard, especially conservative voices.
Vernon met with students who also shared her distress. She said more and more students “felt disenfranchised,” but that this issue is a “blind-spot” among administrators.
Vernon, along with students from Metro State, CSU, CU-Boulder, CU-Denver and Western State College, testified before State Senate President John Andrews and the Colorado General Assembly in December.
“This is not a conservative-liberal issue, it is a student concern,” said Vernon. “We need to be challenged and presented with a variety of viewpoints, fairly and respectfully.”
Ritchie was surprised by Vernon’s comments, stating he “never heard anyone complain” about the classroom environment.
He also doesn’t “perceive it as a big problem here, but it’s good to pursue it since it’s something that ought to be discussed and debated.”
Ritchie suggested that Vernon speak to the Graduate Council and AUSA Senate, as well as attend the DU Board of Trustees meeting in mid-April.
Chris Sturges and Katie Gibson also discussed the Project Dharamsala service learning trip held during winter break.
Sturges and Gibson said how “beneficial the program was” since the students are immersed in another culture and can serve the community in some way.
“We’re not just volunteers, but students learning about the struggles of the Tibetan people,” said Gibson.
India is one of many harbors for Tibetan refugees. Gibson said learning everything about the two cultures and the lack of reaction to human rights situations was quite eye-opening.
After talking about their experiences abroad, Sturges and Gibson brought up the possibility of using alternative energy here at DU, especially with the creation of “green” buildings like the law school.
The meeting with Ritchie lasted over an hour.
The next roundtable meeting will be in the spring quarter.
