Just more than 100 students and faculty gathered on a beautiful Monday evening for the first in a series of discussions entitled “Carolina Conversations.”

After an initial address from Chancellor Folt, Student Body Vice President Kyle Villemain, and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Winston Crisp, the crowd broke down into smaller groups and had open conversations about race and current events.

Villemain says he was encouraged the students voiced their desire to have events like this Carolina Pulse conversation, and then followed through and participated in the facilitated discussion.

“I think it speaks to the strength of the student body,” he says. “This was definitely a great turnout, and I think most importantly it was a diverse turnout. Talking to different people here, they come from different experiences, different backgrounds, and different parts of campus.

“Every single table had people who didn’t know each other, and that was incredibly important.”

Students and faculty in attendance were encouraged to move about during the conversation to different tables. At one point, they were prompted to text in one word that described how they felt about current events across the country. Some of the words most widely used were “frustrated, hopeless, and angry.”

Vice Chancellor Crisp says he would describe himself as “cautiously optimistic” about the conversations that were being had.

“But I don’t want people to hear that as a muted optimism,” he says. “It’s the beginning. We got off to a start. This is also, I remind people, only one piece of the bigger Carolina Conversations.”

Crisp adds he felt it was very important the students realized their voices were being heard.

“I think part of this is having the institution from the highest level – the Chancellor, the Senior Administration, the faculty – send a very clear message that this matters to us,” he says. “That the ability for every students, and I mean every student – and I don’t care what adjective you put in front of them – to feel like this is a place where they can express themselves.”

This was the first in a series of events under the Carolina Conversations banner.

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