Southern Illinois University will host the first in what leaders hope is a series of conversations Monday night, aimed at addressing racism within the system.
President Dan Mahony announced the 'Conversation of Understanding' earlier this month, and says it's just the start of the work SIU intends to do.
"We're putting together task forces at Carbondale, Edwardsville and the School of Medicine that will be doing in-depth looks at everything from our policies and procedures, looking for where we might have some biases there, looking at our curriculum, looking at our hiring practices and promotion processes."
Students, faculty, staff, and administrators are expected to be a part of the conversation, which is scheduled from 5:00-7:00pm online. Mahony says COVID-19 restrictions make the logistics of the conversations more difficult, but says racism must be addressed.