The Student Voice Team will work with student media and organizations in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication (JMC) to identify and solve diversity issues in its “Real Talk: Uncut & Uncensored” event Monday, February 9, at 6:30 p.m. in room 340 Franklin Hall.
The Student Voice Team is a group of student champions for diversity commissioned by JMC in 2014 to identify areas for improvement in both academics and student life. After speaking with the leaders of student media and organizations in the school, the Student Voice Team discovered a growing need to increase diversity in extracurricular activities.
“We, including some professors in JMC, feel that we've been coddled here in terms of [diversity in] the media and the real world,” Julia Adkins, member of the Student Voice Team, said. “We want everyone to be prepared when they leave Kent State to go out into the real world and succeed, but we can't do that if we don't have a firm grasp on reality outside of college.”
“Real Talk: Uncut & Uncensored” will be a student-only conversation about tough topics in diversity, including underrepresentation, cliques within media organizations and what diversity means in journalism and mass communication.
Both the Student Voice Team and student media and organization leaders will lead the discussion. Students can share their concerns with representatives from TV2, Black Squirrel Radio, The Kent Stater, Public Relations Student Society of America and more.
“It's an important conversation that needs to happen; we need to talk about things that are happening without the fear of backlash from our peers and our professors,” Adkins said. “That's also why it's a student only event. We wanted to create a safe space for students to talk about the things that are most important to them in regards to the media within today's society, a place where we can all speak freely with each other and not be afraid to voice our opinions.”
About the Student Voice Team
The Student Voice Team's mission is to advocate for the diversity and inclusion of students and act as ambassadors for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.