This Viewpoint was submitted anonymously following last week’s Scot Council Executive Call-in.
As a student of color who had the opportunity to attend the call-in last Sunday, I was very shocked and equally disappointed with what was being said in the meeting and the things that I learned. It was made very clear at the beginning that it wasn’t advertised well at all, and I can’t tell if that was done intentionally or not, because it was presented to the general public as an “executive board” event which probably could have discouraged individuals like me from coming, especially since I’m not even in Scot Council to begin with.
Apart from that, there was also the fact that the concept of accountability wasn’t being valued, which was voiced as concerning by more than one individual of color who is an important member of Scot Council. The reason behind this was because it became very apparent that certain non-BIPOC individuals in Scot Council kept taking credit for hard work that was actually done by the BIPOC individuals in the organization, which was very alarming to me. Then there is also the huge gap between Scot Council and the general public of students because, a lot of times, students generally don’t know what it is or what its purpose is, which is to cater to the concerns of students on campus. The reason for this, which was also discussed in the call-in, was due to the lack of outreach from members, especially from the executive board to other student organizations, especially when it comes to attending other student organizations’ meetings. What made this issue more ridiculous was the fact that there’s actually a whole committee on Scot Council focused on outreach, yet even the bare minimum work can’t be shown here.
Also, there was the political language being displayed throughout the meeting by certain members, which I found to come off as being very privileged and condescending, especially for an individual who never understood that type of language growing up nor is a political science major. This made it very clear to me that there is this politician personality being expressed by certain individuals (specifically by certain non-BIPOC members) on Scot Council and the problem is that politicians, as I’ve learned being from a marginalized community, like to vocalize empty promises with no intention to actually fulfill them at all. There’s also the problem of getting BIPOC individuals to even be willing to run for Scot Council and retaining seats as well, which I found to be very sad but not surprising considering my conversations with those on Scot Council and the toll it takes on them because they constantly have to do all the work in the marginalized communities on campus, which personally discouraged me from running for Scot Council this year.
Despite all of this, I still have hope for Scot Council next year in the sense that once certain individuals can start owning up to their mistakes and biases, there can be room for change and transparency.
