Some Quinnipiac University faculty and students act as if they aren’t part of the community. They met over Zoom to discuss their stories on Thursday.
Assistant professor of political studies Marcos Scauso and assistant teaching professor of English J.T. Torres led the forum, which over 20 people attended.
“It sounded like it was a need that many people had, but no one really identified,” Torres said. “Everybody I spoke to… was like, ‘Yeah, why haven’t we done that already?’”
The forum was unaffiliated with the university and purely hosted by professors, allowing students and faculty to speak freely about their feelings and share their stories about their treatment without fear of judgment or repercussions from the university administration.
The discussion was made private and anonymous to those who didn’t attend the Zoom meeting, but some students detailed their feelings of loneliness and isolation on campus as a result of their belonging to a minority group. The first student who shared became emotional sharing her story, and several professors and peers rallied around her and validated her feelings.
Professors uplifted her with their microphones and keyboards, speaking out loud to comfort her and recognizing her bravery in the Zoom chat. Most of the messages told her she didn’t need to apologize for her emotions, since she was speaking up for what she believed in.
Scauso and Torres created the forum exactly for this reason. They wanted underrepresented students to feel more safe and welcome on campus, something they realized was lacking.
“When we’re told that we’re the ‘Bobcat Nation,’ or that we’re a family, or that we’re a community, and then there are people who don’t feel like they’re a part of that in different ways, then (the forum) becomes all that more powerful,” Scauso said. “We’re almost explicitly and profoundly pushed away from the community.”
“We’re almost explicitly and profoundly pushed away from the community.”
Professor Marcos Scauso
Sophomore health studies major Madisyn King has taken Torres’ EN-102H class and said that the community he fosters in the classroom was a major factor to her comfort as she became accustomed to campus life.
“I definitely think this conversation helps,” King said. “It definitely helped me find my voice and I definitely think I was more vocal in (Torres’) class because I think the overall structure was a little bit more fluid and a little bit more comfortable, which goes along with that sense of belonging.
Torres takes pride in the fact that students feel welcome in his class, and he works hard to ensure that.
“I work really hard at knowing not just what my students’ names are, but what their preferred names are, preferred pronouns, and also what they’re writing about in my classes,” Torres said. “I pay attention to that so I can constantly reference it and let them know I am paying a lot of attention to what you’re doing in my class. I’m listening to you.”
Since Torres and Scauso are professors, they focused on how students participate in the classroom given their identities and whether or not they feel as if they’re part of the community.
“If we don’t feel like we’re a part of this community, we’re going to be affected in everything we do at Quinnipiac,” Scauso said.
Students see that effort. Scauso’s main point of emphasis was that if a student feels isolated in their social lives, it will restrict them in their academic lives. He said the conversations that will allow these students to reach their academic potential begin in the classroom, and that the forum is a great way to continue.
King said she understood Scauso’s sentiment and agreed with him.
“I think it’s important to facilitate those classrooms that will allow students to think outside the box and be more creative in different ways, and that’s the main goal,” King said.
I think it’s important to facilitate those classrooms that will allow students to think outside the box and be more creative in different ways, and that’s the main goal.
Madisyn King, sophomore student
Torres said although they plan on making this forum a monthly installment and they plan on being involved in it, they don’t want to fall into a pattern. They want to have a wide array of students attend the discussion and have a diverse set of voices.
Scauso and Torres said they got one step closer to an equitable community on Thursday. The first installment of the forum was a great success to Scauso, and he left the meeting very encouraged by what he learned from the speakers.
“Being here today in this forum, listening to the experiences of students and staff and faculty has made me feel that maybe I’m not crazy, that maybe there are a couple of issues we can work on and improve on,” Scauso said. “… The sense of collectivity created in the forum was, to me, extremely fruitful, and that made me very happy.
“Each student can become a pollinator of justice.”