2008 Woodie Awards
LCCC views mixed on campus racial equality
Elijah Turan
Issue date: 2/27/07 Section: News
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Student Senate President Marcus Madison said he sees signs of progress for racial and ethnic tolerance at Lorain County Community College, despite its controversial history, during a February interview about campus diversity and equality.
"There's still work to be done, it's a work in progress, but every day we get closer," Madison said. "Students need to continue developing a sense of empathy. We need to challenge ourselves to step outside the box. When we do that, we open up an entire world of culture and perspective."
In the past, LCCC has been accused of fostering discrimination on more than one occasion. In an open forum with students last October, LCCC President Roy Church, a student questioned the schools hiring practices and said that she felt that LCCC discriminates against hiring minorities. The student, an African-American female, said that she had put in several applications for positions at LCCC, but had received little or if any responses. As a reply, Church said, discrimination is prohibited under LCCC employment policy, but he admitted that the faculty was not as diverse as it could be
In the Spring of 2006, A group of Seattle students from Bellevue Community College pointed to a lack of diversity in LCCC clubs, organizations and student leadership positions, according to a story written by Megan Justice that appeared in the April 18th Edition of the Collegian. The BCC student group was hosted by an LCCC associate professor in the Art and Humanities, Malcolm Cash. According to Justice, Cash was a guest instructor for one semester at BCC. The BCC students claimed that the lack of racial diversity represented institutionalized racism.
As an instructor who creates and teaches courses on African American issues, Cash has made his mark on LCCC as a passionate teacher. He wants to "equalize intuitional power among all the races." Cash also said during an interview about a new course he's teaching in the Spring semester, that while African-Americans have gained wealth and have advanced in many careers in most fields, that there is still a distinct lack of Black people in positions of institutional leadership. This is the source of power, according to Cash.
"There's still work to be done, it's a work in progress, but every day we get closer," Madison said. "Students need to continue developing a sense of empathy. We need to challenge ourselves to step outside the box. When we do that, we open up an entire world of culture and perspective."
In the past, LCCC has been accused of fostering discrimination on more than one occasion. In an open forum with students last October, LCCC President Roy Church, a student questioned the schools hiring practices and said that she felt that LCCC discriminates against hiring minorities. The student, an African-American female, said that she had put in several applications for positions at LCCC, but had received little or if any responses. As a reply, Church said, discrimination is prohibited under LCCC employment policy, but he admitted that the faculty was not as diverse as it could be
In the Spring of 2006, A group of Seattle students from Bellevue Community College pointed to a lack of diversity in LCCC clubs, organizations and student leadership positions, according to a story written by Megan Justice that appeared in the April 18th Edition of the Collegian. The BCC student group was hosted by an LCCC associate professor in the Art and Humanities, Malcolm Cash. According to Justice, Cash was a guest instructor for one semester at BCC. The BCC students claimed that the lack of racial diversity represented institutionalized racism.
As an instructor who creates and teaches courses on African American issues, Cash has made his mark on LCCC as a passionate teacher. He wants to "equalize intuitional power among all the races." Cash also said during an interview about a new course he's teaching in the Spring semester, that while African-Americans have gained wealth and have advanced in many careers in most fields, that there is still a distinct lack of Black people in positions of institutional leadership. This is the source of power, according to Cash.
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