A move to action at the SCA Council on Diversity and Inclusion
A variety of emotions were present in this room including laughter, anger, incredulity, sadness but most commonly, frustration.
Yesterday afternoon, the SCA Council on Diversity & Inclusion hosted a Town Hall to discuss alleged lack of representation in the USC School for Cinematic Arts.
At 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 18, students, staff and faculty filled the SCA Gallery in an effort to combat and act upon recently raised issues regarding diversity.
Christine Acham and Helaine Head, Co-Chairs of the council, opened up the meeting introducing the student moderators of the discussion. The premise for the meeting was simple: two static and two roaming microphones which were open to everyone.
She said: “Nobody’s here to attack anybody.”
The explicated goal of the town hall was civil discussion and proactive solutions.
The poignancy of the meeting falling on the date of Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison’s birthday did not fall short on at least one of the student moderators, Philana Peyton.
“Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge,” Philana quoted of Morrison.
It marked a pointedly divisive start to what would become an emotionally charged meeting. With upwards of twenty people contributing thoughts, experiences and anecdotes a variety of emotions were present in this room including laughter, anger, incredulity, sadness but most commonly, frustration.
“A lot of times, it is not the overt things that are crippling,” one student said. The compilation of these smaller, fragmented issues became the subject of the town hall.
The forum provided an opportunity for a multitude of issues to be discussed. Whilst every contribution varied in some way, and every experience differed, many sentiments flowed through the same vein.
In particular, the necessity for a more diverse faculty was repeatedly referenced to due to a lack of understanding of the stories students were trying to tell.
“I have to explain my story all the time,” said one student. It was also noted that notes from professors were often “completely off base from the point of view of the filmmaker.”
Furthermore, faculty asking students to alter their stories out of fear that their work would not be accepted was a common theme delineated by many personal examples.
“I was asked to demonise my subject matter,” said one student who composed a story about a polyandrous relationship. Furthermore, a student claimed to have been told that the characters must be white before the writer had even defined them.
Additionally, the town hall touched upon SCA’s curriculum. In particular, students raised concern that an international cinema class did not once mention Africa, with the student claiming that if a curriculum is going to omit an entire genre, at least say “it doesn’t exist.”
Moreover the ability for the curriculum, if changed in a positive light, to shape the industry in a forward thinking and inclusive manner was also considered.
In a meeting discussing the systemic disenfranchisement of certain members of the SCA community, at least one point of agency was found: SCA has both the power and strength to shape itself and the industry, so they should start changing it. Now.
The next meeting is Thursday Feb. 25th from 4:00 – 5:00p.m. in SCA 467.