The University of North Carolina System’s Racial Equity Task Force held a series of virtual town halls for students, faculty and staff from Oct. 19 through Oct. 29. 

Since May, racial issues and disparities have returned to the forefront of conversations following the killing of George Floyd. Americans, particularly people of color, have been loud with their demands for justice and systemic reforms in all aspects of society. These demands were heard by The UNC Board of Governors. Their response comes in the form of The Racial Equity Task Force.

The Task Force is charged with gathering information from the UNC system’s community and constituents regarding racism, equity and diversity. 

This information will be used to help the Task Force identify key issues among the system’s schools and create a tangible plan of action to address those issues. The end goal is to make UNC system schools as diverse and inclusive as possible for all students.

Students from varying UNC system college campuses were asked to attend as a guest. They answered questions presented by the moderator on a wide range of topics including campus police, the diversity of faculty and staff and resources on campus for students of color. 

The moderator and the preselected student guest were the only participants with their audio and video functions enabled. All other participants had the option to be anonymous and were able to respond and ask questions via the Q&A text box. 

Town Hall meetings are the second step in a four-step process to gather and present information. The first step took place in September and consisted of a system-wide survey. 

The third step of the process is The Racial Equity Task Force Workshop that takes place on Nov. 10. During the workshop, Task Force members will discuss the results and findings from the survey and the virtual town hall meetings and devise a plan of action to present to the Board of Governors. 

The final step will be the presentation of the Task Force’s report to the Board of Governors Chair as well as the UNC System President. That presentation is scheduled for Dec. 16. 

There have been concerns over The Board of Governors’ ability and willingness to implement the suggestions of The Task Force due to their lack of diversity. Those concerns were intensified in Sep. following the resignation of board member and Racial Equity Task Force chairperson, Darrell Allison. The board consists of 24- voting members of which three, including Allison, were Black. 

Neither the lack of diversity on the board nor Allison’s resignation appears to have affected the timeline set forth by the task force. At the time of this article, there has been no update on a replacement for Allison regarding either of his previous positions.

The Task force encourages anyone who was unable to attend a virtual session or those who have additional thoughts and concerns to contribute to submit a Share Your Ideas form online or email the Task Force Directly at [email protected].