Leaders United for a Change wants more action and less conversation from ISU administrators and other student organizations as it relates to campus diversity and inclusion.

The group, formally known as Latinos United for a Change and Students Against Bigotry, came to the first meeting of the new Student Government body on Wednesday night to speak before the designated open forum where unscheduled speakers have a chance to speak to the Senate about an issue. Provost Jonathan Wickert was speaking at the meeting when the group came in.

The group’s appearance was meant to be a surprise, said Joi Latson, LUCHA member and sophomore in global resource systems. However, Latson said she was not sure why the appearance was meant to be a surprise because she was told about the meeting only a day before they planned to visit the Student Government meeting.

LUCHA members Jonathan Webb, Maria Alcivar and Wesley Harris did not respond to phone calls and emails on Thursday. LUCHA member Maurice Washington asked to speak later in the day but would not answer when called. Monica Diaz, who helped organize the demonstration at the Student Government meeting, said she did not want to comment.

During the meeting, LUCHA members passed out print outs of bigoted comments they found on Iowa State’s Yik Yak and a list of grievances and demands they made for the university administration after an open forum held in the fall.

Cole Staudt, Student Government president, said LUCHA members were asking for action and asked for more communication on what direct plans administrators have been putting into place to make the campus climate more diverse and inclusive.

“They’ve told us their experiences; now it’s our turn to take some action,” Staudt said of LUCHA.

Staudt said it is his goal to become the point of communication between student organizations and administrators.

“We want to be transparent in this process and keep administrators accountable,” Staudt said. “We just need to make sure we just keep pushing them along and we’re moving as fast as possible. I need to know what is happening and when it is happening. I can’t hold university administration accountable if I don’t know what’s happening.”

After last night’s Senate meeting, Staudt emailed President Steven Leath, asking to meet with him as soon as possible. Staudt said he was able to meet with Leath today but was only able to meet for 15 minutes.

Cody West, vice president, said he agreed that transparency between administrators and student groups is going to be a priority.

“A lot of what Provost Wickert would bring up is ‘this is what we’re doing.’ And we would hear ‘why haven’t we heard about this?’” West said of LUCHA. “We [Student Government] are fighting for them and continue to stand by them with these issues. Having them frustrated and not knowing these conversations take place shows we need to have that change immediately.”

Staudt said it is obvious there is still a culture change that needs to take place on campus after LUCHA shared anonymous bigoted Yik Yak comments and a picture of a pick up truck outside of Friley Hall that had the phrase “white supremacy” written on it in blue marker.

“It comes to changing the culture in public,” Staudt said. “I don’t appreciate people anonymously hiding behind things on the internet. If you have an opinion come out and say it. We’re not going to persecute you, we’re going to challenge your beliefs. Using a phrase that’s been used for centuries to put down an entire race of people. The First Amendment does protect your right to write that, but it does not make it OK.”

West agreed that ISU community members who continue to hold prejudices “need to open their mind.” Having an inclusive climate at Iowa State is “important to your experience and to Cyclones for years to come.” West said he hopes to help student leaders educate students as soon as they come to Iowa State on how to be welcoming and see diversity as a chance for education.

However, Staudt said changing a culture of a campus takes time.

“One of the things we [Staudt and Leath] talked about today was we can change a policy,” he said. “The problems we’re seeing with diversity and being welcoming focus around culture. We can’t change a culture overnight. It takes all of us to be responsible and responsive and calling out things that are wrong when we see them.”

Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Reginald Stewart gave some context on why it takes time to change a campus culture that may not be inclusive as it relates to diversity.

“It took you from 1790 to 1868 with the Fourteenth Amendment to say anyone born in the United States can be a citizen,” Stewart said. “So you’re already talking about almost 80 years. You’re talking about four generations before you even recognize other people as citizens of the country.

“We started the country with imbalance perspective of who can and can’t have opportunity,” Stewart said. “Now we go back and we’re trying to retrofit and fix things. Some people want change and they want it immediately because, clearly, if you’ve been waiting 200 years for a fair shake, you’re frustrated.”

In the same way the United States continues to struggle with inclusiveness and racism even after the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the ISU campus is struggling to overcome its history.

“You’ve got decades of structural challenges that students and staff are navigating,” Stewart said. “This isn’t everything that happened since last fall. I think that’s how we’re capturing it is ‘we had an incident in the fall, so now what have we done?’ That may have just been the tipping point that puts the situation in play.”

Staudt said it is important for students to advocate for a more inclusive and welcoming campus among their peers.

“We are all a part of each other’s experience at Iowa State,” he said. “We should all be doing what we can to make sure everyone feels welcome and comfortable. You don’t have to accept other people’s opinions. A conversation where people disagree is healthy. We appreciate an open dialogue.

“If students ever feel like they have an issue, please don’t hesitate to reach out.”