Connecticut Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard A. Robinson spoke to a crowd of 200 at the Quinnipiac Diversity Dinner. Courtesy: Peter O’Neill
Quinnipiac celebrated Black History Month on Tuesday night, with a dinner that featured Connecticut Supreme Court Chief Justice, Richard A. Robinson.
Robinson, who is Connecticut’s first black Chief Justice, spoke in front of over 200 people at the event about the amazing changes that have occurred throughout his life as it relates to racism. However, he acknowledged that there is still an extremely long way to go.
“I think these kinds of events are very important,” Robinson said. “We need to have dialogues about race, history, ethnicity, and culture. These are conversations that aren’t going on enough in our country.”
Robinson believes that this event sets a great tone for the university, but would like to see more diversity at next year’s event. Afterward, many students and professors spoke one-on-one with Robinson.
“I don’t think people expressed any concerns that were unexpected,” Robinson said. “People are concerned about what’s going on today, but mainly people came up to me and said that they were glad to have been there for the conversations that took place that night.”
Quinnipiac’s vice president for equity and inclusion, Don Sawyer, joined Chief Justice Robinson on stage at the dinner. Sawyer believes that this event is an important part of promoting inclusivity at Quinnipiac.
“When we talk about inclusive excellence, we want to make people from different cultures feel welcome on campus,” Sawyer said. “This event aimed to do just that.”
Although Quinnipiac has previously honored Black History Month with public speakers, this is the first time it has been celebrated with the dinner format. Although he considers it a successful event, he acknowledged that one event doesn’t create the change that is needed. He elaborated on some of the other ways in which Quinnipiac tries to promote diversity and inclusion.
“Last semester we had an open forum on inclusion,” Sawyer said, “where faculty, staff, and students were able to express any concerns that they have on campus, and also the things that were going well.”
Sawyer said that the issues discussed will be compiled and released in a public document in the near future, and mentioned that inclusive excellence is the second pillar in Quinnipiac’s strategic plan.
Despite Quinnipiac’s efforts to increase inclusivity and diversity on campus, there are still obstacles that need to be hurdled. Sawyer mentioned that some professors shy away from difficult topics in the classroom.
“Students have mentioned a need for diversity programs where everyone can learn from one another,” Sawyer said, “so I think it’s important for us to create spaces where we can have an intentional dialogue.”
One student who attended the Black History Month dinner is junior Andrew DePass. DePass is the executive chair of Quinnipiac’s multicultural student leadership council, which aims to advocate for minorities and students of color on campus. He is passionate about creating a more inclusive environment at Quinnipiac.
Don Sawyer stands alongside Judy Oilan, and her husband Peter Liberti. Courtesy: Peter O’Neill
“The overarching theme is that there are instances where people don’t know how to interact with people of certain cultures,” DePass said. “Oftentimes misconceptions and misunderstandings occur. Another thing we feel is that when students try to bring up incidents, oftentimes there is a quieting of those concerns. They aren’t handled as seriously by the administration as we’d like.”
As it relates to the Black History Month dinner, DePass is glad that the event took place and that there were notable people of color honored and in attendance.
“When you are on a campus where the professor doesn’t always look like you, you can start to doubt whether you have a place in a particular career field,” DePass said. “Having the Chief Justice there was very beneficial. I saw lots of students speaking with him afterward, and having interactions that were positive so that we can all continue to persist.”
As it relates to the administration at Quinnipiac, Sawyer is the only person of color on Quinnipiac president Judy Olian’s cabinet. He does not believe that this is concerning, however.
“President Olian understands that our cabinet is not the most diverse, and so we work to diversify the pools of positions that we’re hiring,” Sawyer said. “I think over the next year or so, we might see some shifts.”
Sawyer added that the university has also made great strides in diversifying staff as it relates to gender, but there is still a long way to go in the journey of creating more overall diversity.