BC tries again after students ignore 'bias and isms' panel

Boston College will take another stab at hosting a panel discussion on the “impact of bias and isms,” even though very few students attended the event when it was first put on last year.

According to The Heights (BC’s student newspaper), turnout was low at the initial panel discussion last December, apparently because it competed with the school’s annual Christmas Tree lighting.

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Campus Reform has repeatedly reported on colleges cracking down on Christmas celebrations, yet students at Boston College were apparently more interested in partaking in the festivities than discussing “bias and isms.”

Notably, the panel was originally developed in response to student concerns over alleged “race-biased incidents,” according to The Heights, though few students actually participated.

Nonetheless, the school’s University Counseling Services department plans to give the panel another go, offering the panel on “Impacts of Bias and Isms: How can we continue the difficult conversation?” for a second time Tuesday.

“The events of the last year have been difficult in many ways, [and] we wanted to explore ways to provide support in light of what can be very challenging conversations,” explained Vice President for Student Affairs Barb Jones, who will deliver the event’s opening remarks.

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“The University Counseling Services, along with colleagues in Academic Affairs, are uniquely positioned through their training and interactions with students to shed light on the impact of these events on individuals and how the conversation can move forward,” she added.

Despite claims that the event initially coincided with the school’s annual Christmas Tree lighting, archived event pages show that December’s panel discussion began at 5 p.m., while the tree lighting took place an hour earlier, suggesting that attendance at the two events was not mutually preclusive.

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Campus Reform reached out to Jones for comment on whether she is expecting a higher turnout this time around, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @AGockowski