Chancellor Beggs joined the Black Affairs Council task force and African-American students Thursday night at the Student Center in an attempt find solutions to concerns of African-American student council members believe are overlooked.

Beggs appeared before a group of about 45 students at a BAC Town Hall Meeting and attempted to individually address each of the students questions.

Although the turnout was small, the meeting was good because there was a lot of energy and enthusiasm from people who wanted to make a change, BAC coordinator Tiffany Thomas said.

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The BAC task force, formed to investigate the needs of the African-American population, presented statistics from a survey of African-American students before each topic of discussion. Topics discussed were the lack of African-American professors, and administration’s treatment of African-American students and organizations.

Beggs, Seymour Bryson, executive assistant to the chancellor, and Jim Scales, director of Career Services, were some of the administrators invited to attend the town hall meeting.

Data collected from the survey revealed 64 percent of the students surveyed agreed there is an inadequate representation of African-American staff at SIUC.

Beggs said he also is not pleased with faculty dispersion, but SIUC’s potential African-American professors have a number of other job opportunities.

We’re not satisfied with the distribution of faculty in respect to race, he said. A reason why there is not adequate representation is because African-American professors have so many job opportunities.

Other statistics revealed 42 percent of the students surveyed believed that SIUC does not provide a sense of belonging among African-American students.

Fifty-seven percent disagree that SIUC’s administration actively works to provide support and assistance to African-American individuals and organizations on and off campus.

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Beggs said the issues stated at the task force meeting were concerns expressed to him by not only African-American students but other student groups as well and all of these issues were a concern.

When asked what is being done to make sure these issues are resolved, Beggs said an affirmative action group has been set up to address these concerns, but that a lack of communication seems to be bigger issue.

An affirmative action group is set up to brief me on these issues, he said, but the issues seems to be our inability to communicate effectively with students.

Beggs asked the students to help the administration assist students through constructive criticism. Constructive criticism, he said, is the key to understanding.

Beggs made an early exit from the meeting, but said the issues discussed will not go unheard by the other members of administration.

It won’t stop here, he said. I will talk to the director of these departments and a written report will be put in my transition file.

Beggs said Jo Ann Argersinger, the next SIUC chancellor, will be briefed through these files, and he believes she is qualified to handle these types of problems.

Students attending the meeting felt skeptical about the future of SIUC’s environment in respect to African-American students, but commended the task force for a job well done.

I’m interested in seeing how many of the pledges made in this meeting are lip service, said Tisha Henson, a junior in history from Chicago. But the task force gets a lot of respect from me for stepping up and taking the leadership role in making sure the concerns of the African-American students are met.

Abdul Rahim Khalil, a graduate in social work, had mixed feelings about the meeting. While he is proud of the task force’s effort, he is ashamed of the lack of interest expressed by other African-American students. He believes it is troubling that more SIUC African-American students to attend social events than events such as Thursday’s town hall meeting.

This meeting was necessary, he said. It addressed issues that should have been addressed years ago. All of the people who attended the Players Ball’ should be ashamed that they did not attend this focus group.

This shows where our priorities are. We can’t blame anyone else for our problems if we don’t address them ourselves.

Scales said the meeting was a success but also said concerned African-American students should take a hands-on approach to these concerns. He wants the information covered at the meeting and the data collected by the task force to be forwarded to the directors of campus departments in which students have a concerns.

The data from these findings should be presented to the actual directors of these departments, he said. Once they know the needs of the students, they can be held accountable for amending the system.

Bryson said the chancellor’s involvement added to the discussion between students and the administration. He added that students must continue to build BAC’s voice.

We’ve come this far because of the leadership of Tiffany Thomas and BAC, he said. We must continue to build up BAC to be the voice for the African student body.