Mesa College President Pamela Luster met online with a group of panelists on August 25 to discuss issues of anti-blackness and racial inequity.

The Campus Community Forum, hosted by President Luster, is a discussion held twice a month featuring a panel of Mesa College faculty and staff. The forum took place via Zoom and was moderated by the Professional Learning Coordinator for Learning Opportunities for Transformation (LOFT), Janue Johnson, who asked the panelists a series of questions pertaining to the aforementioned topics.

The group began with a brief update addressing preliminary school-related issues before moving onto the topic of the forum, which, according to the Mesa College Facebook page, was a continuation of the discussion on anti-blackness held at the Mesa College Convocation on Addressing Racial Inequity.

President Luster set the tone for the discussion by starting off with opening remarks regarding a recent event of police brutality, more specifically, the shooting of 29-year-old Jacob Blake, which is presently a topic at the forefront of American cultural discourse. 

“The trauma is real right now,” said Luster, “the trauma is ever-present.”

Panelists took turns addressing and discussing a series of questions Johnson and Luster asked. Several key insights and points were brought up during the discourse, however, no legislative course of action was made clear by the group. 

Although no serious legislation or policy was discussed, it appears this forum is an on-going tool in the toolbelt of a much larger course of action taken by the school in light of our present circumstances.

The next Campus Community Forum will be held Tuesday, September 8 at 2:15 p.m. live on the Mesa College Youtube Channel or via Zoom.