UALR, a leader for the past five years in fostering discussion about racial attitudes, now has an online discussion board available to the UALR community to discuss race and ethnicity. To view discussion topics and get involved in the conversation, go to the campus’ Racial Attitudes website.

The first two discussion questions are “What has been your most meaningful encounter outside the classroom (or workplace) with a person of another race (please describe)?” and “How should President Obama deal with the issue of race during his presidency? Should he attempt to ignore the issue or address it directly (please explain why you think this is the case)?”

To post a comment, you’ll need to log on with your UALR user name and password.

“The discussion board for UALR students, faculty, and staff is another step by the University to focus attention and stimulate thoughtful discussion of what is admittedly a sensitive subject that many of us would prefer to ignore,” said Chancellor Joel E. Anderson.

A project of the Chancellor’s Committee on Race and Ethnicity, the community forum is part of UALR’s larger strategic goal to “be a keeper of the flame on the subject of race.” For the past five years, UALR has conducted annual surveys on attitudes and perceptions related to race in Pulaski County as well as an on-campus survey of student attitudes.

Findings of the surveys are presented each year. The sixth annual survey will be presented during a conference March 12 in the Donaghey Student Center. This year’s focus is on “Economic Wealth, Housing, and Financial Well-Being.”