Students and faculty members gathered in the Cross Cultural
Center lounge to discuss concerns dealing with the continuation of
minority scholarships. This town hall meeting was held at Saint
Louis University on Wednesday afternoon.

Approximately 20 people were in attendance, including Provost
Joe Weixlmann, Ph.D., Karla Scott, Ph.D., chair of African American
Studies, Greg Horton, M.F.A., director of the Cross Cultural Center
and several students.

The purpose of the town hall meeting was to ensure that SLU
attracts the brightest and most diverse minds in the country to its
campus.

SLU is currently involved in a debate about the future of the
Calloway scholarship. The scholarship is being challenged after two
organizations filed formal complaints against the University with
the federal Office of Civil Rights, asking the University to
abandon all race-conscious scholarships.

While the future of the Calloway scholarship at the University
has yet to be determined, those who are current Calloway scholars
will not be affected in anyway, Weixlmann said.

“I don’t believe that the scholarship will be gotten rid of
totally … the University will come up with a solution that will
reach more people–not just African American students,” Horton
said. “However, I think it defeats the purpose of why they
established the Calloway Scholarship in the beginning.”

The concern is apparently not in the scholarship itself, but the
description and practice of handing out the scholarship to only
African American students. This is because the funds for the
scholarship are set aside and come from the University’s total
financial aid budget.

SLU is in the process of coming up with possible solutions to
this potential problem, but they have yet to find a
“one-size-fits-all” solution. Weixlmann said the goal is not to
“cut the program, but rather to achieve the same goals, based on
another scholarship.”

The commitment of the University to the recruitment of minority
students was questioned.

“The office of undergraduate admissions is trying to actively
recruit more African American students,” Weixlmann said.

A number of students in attendance declined comment, due to
their frustration regarding the issue.

Kris Hilliard, one Calloway scholar, said, “I feel like the face
of the University–the student body–will change as a result of
what the University is in the process of deciding.”