Every Thursday, the University of Oregon Counseling Center hosts a discussion group in Carson Hall called Racial Dialogues, intended to give underrepresented students a chance to share their experiences on campus with one another.
The weekly discussions, though usually small in attendance, are just part of a larger effort by the Counseling Center to make itself more open to minority students. Beginning in the Fall of 2016, the UCTC began holding focus groups for students of color on campus to determine how it could better support them.
The groups were introduced by Eric Garcia, an outreach GTF at the counseling center, and Mariko Lin, Senior Staff Psychologist and Education and Prevention Outreach Director. Garcia said their initial goal was to better understand and reflect on the experiences of students of color in what Garcia calls a “predominantly white institution.”
“The fact is that we are a predominantly white institution, and if you are a person of color, you are likely reminded of this fact time and time again,” Garcia wrote on a mental health blog with Mental Health Advocate and Outreach Intern Wing Ng earlier this month. “Through our experiences as people of color […] we are very familiar with the feeling of being in the minority on campus.”
According to UO’s Office of Institutional Research, students of color number 5,169 undergraduates and 561 graduate students, only 23.8 percent of the university’s total student body. In contrast, white students make up over 60.6 percent of students.
Those numbers, coupled with the findings from Garcia and Lin’s initial focus groups, made having a space to talk about the day-to-day experiences of students of color even more important. Week after week, Garcia and Lin noted attendees’ positive reactions.
“Students enjoyed talking to their peers who were also students of color,” Garcia said. “[The discussions] helped them feel validated and empowered in a lot of ways […] Based on conversations I’ve had, it’s challenging for students [to be] the minority, and students of color very much feel that way a lot of the time.”
Racial Dialogues’ positive impact on a personal level, however, has not helped its dwindling attendance; last Thursday, only Garcia was present at the meeting in Carson Hall. Nevertheless, Lin notes that the groups have already had an effect on the way the Counseling Center reaches out to underrepresented students.
“We already have plans this summer to dedicate time as a whole staff at the UCTC to have discussions about what students of color shared in the focus groups,” Lin said in an email. “It’s important for all of our staff at the center to continue finding ways to increase our cultural competence for the various communities of students we work with.”
Racial Dialogues will continue every Thursday at 5 p.m. in Carson Hall’s Ramey Room through the end of the school year.
