Organizers of the Salukis SPEAK discussion series are calling the inaugural run a success.
Seven separate discussions were held during the fall semester on the SIU-Carbondale campus to encourage feedback between students, faculty, staff and administrators.
Assistant Dean of Students Deborah Barnett says they exceeded expectations.
"I think the largest number of students that we had in attendance was around 60 or 70. But, regardless of the size or the participation numbers, the conversations were really authentic and students really enjoyed not only conversing about the topics, but also interacting with the faculty and staff who were there as well."
Savannah Krieg is one of Barnett's student workers who attended all seven discussions. She says the students felt as if the faculty, staff and administrators were really listening to their comments.
"I mean a majority of them even stayed after the scheduled ending time because they weren't done having these conversations and talking about moving forward."
Topics included the Black Lives Matter movement, the Orlando nightclub shooting and the 2016 election.
Barnett says plans are to continue the series in the spring semester.
"One of the things we saw students asking about is how they could be involved. So, we plan on reaching out to those students, and really anyone who attended the series, to see how they want to be involved and how they can help plan and even help facilitate some of the conversations for the future and select the topics."
Barnett says she encourages anyone to attend a session this spring because it provides a lot of insight into how SIU-C students of different backgrounds deal with various issues.
