Students discuss discrimination at monthly meeting

A group of about eight people sat around in the Asian Culture Center and ate dinner last Thursday night while they discussed discrimination students have faced. The meeting was the first of the year for the group Responding to Incidents of Casual and Everyday Racism.\nThe student support group meets about once a month and was founded in 2000 thanks to a grant, said Melanie Castillo-Cullather, director of the Asian Culture Center. \nAt its first meeting of this year, the group brought in Bloomington Human Rights Commission Director Barbara E. McKinney to discuss dealing with discrimination at school and in the workplace. Students also shared their experiences of discrimination at IU. \n“Discrimination occurs all the time,” senior Samatha Loo said. “It is important to recognize that to try and make a difference.” \nDuring the lecture, McKinney explained how the Bloomington Human Rights Commission works. \n“(We are here) to hear about problems and resolve them,” McKinney said at the meeting. “(We want) to make Bloomington a more welcoming community for everyone.”\nMcKinney said the commission, which was started in 1989, deals mostly with institutionalized racism. McKinney explained that the organization does not have jurisdiction over incidents that occur at IU. However, she said the group can help students go through the process of reporting discrimination and give them legal advice. \nMcKinney gave examples of landlords who discriminate against IU students and explained what students could do. For example, McKinney said a landlord cannot turn people away because they have an accent. \nOnce discrimination has been spotted, anyone can go the commission and file a compliant. The commission will investigate the complaint and determine if it is classified as discrimination, McKinney said. This free process will take about four months. \nThe number of reports the commission receives varies from six to 25 a year, \nMcKinney said. \nAfter the first session, McKinney answered some questions the students had about particular incidents that they have experienced.\n“(If) there is some organization that can help us, that makes me feel better,” graduate student Michael Liu said. “(It) helps me have a better impression of the United States.”