Taha Khan, theatre and performance senior, has helped develop a new diversity and inclusion council within the School of Theatre.
“Our goals are to create more opportunities and do more diverse shows and then also have more dynamic voices involved in conversations of season selection, casting, as well as material we are taught in class,” Khan said.
The council stemmed from students coming together and voicing frustrations about a lack of diversity within the faculty of the School of Theatre, with students deciding this would be a productive outlet to help with representation and voicing their feelings.
“I kind of came up with this idea to have a diversity panel that is allowing this missing voice in the institutional conversations, which is the reason why certain things are affecting us in a certain way, so this voice can be injected artificially into the faculty and their decisions, that way we can perform shows that have more roles for minority students or for students who are racially diverse or LGBTQ,” Khan said.
The faculty has been very involved throughout the development process of the council, encouraging Khan to pursue this and offering help and support wherever possible, he said. Khan said both Dr. Mark Belcik, associate dean of music and interim associate dean of theatre, as well as Mark Parker, dean of music and theater, have been helping him throughout this process.
“It’s a vehicle for communication between the staff and students within the department,” Parker said. “We think this council will be something that connects and has an impact, not just through the School of Theatre, but through the other diversity initiatives happening all across the OCU campus.”
Khan said he is grateful for the support and enthusiasm he has seen from the students on this issue and looks forward to making a positive impact on the OCU campus through the diversity and inclusion council.
“It’s been great,” Khan said. “I am motivated by the students; I don’t think I could do this if there was a negative or hostile or unsympathetic student body because I just wouldn’t have the same dedication and energy.”
The council has not been fully established yet, but Parker said it will hopefully happen by next semester. So far, the structure of the council consists of seven seats, with four being classified as legacy seats. The remaining three seats will, as of now, be voted on by the School of Theatre student body.
“When I graduate or step down, I have the ability to specifically name my successor,” Khan said. “They are still voted on, but there is no outside control about who it could be so we can maintain diversity within the panel.”
The hope through this council is that eventually, it will no longer be needed, and the issues that caused its creation will be resolved, Khan said.
“Ultimately, the idea is that hopefully the panel works itself out of existence,” Khan said. “I think we can see in the things happening on campus in the recent last few weeks, that we need to work harder. Last week, in the School of Theatre, we had a couple of guest speakers who came in, and we had a meeting about equity, diversity, and inclusion with David Stewart.
Stewart is a production manager with Disney Parks Live Entertainment. He facilitated a Talkback after the Oct. 26 performance of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
“He talked about something I found very fascinating in how inclusion is actions, inclusion is on a personal level and diversity is a numbers game,” Khan said. “He said that you don’t have diversity, or your diversity won’t last, if you don’t work on the inclusion part as well. And so I think in working at the inclusion aspect, I think we will see more diversity here at OCU that we want,” Khan said.
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