Colorado State University Libraries Archives & Special Collections University Archive
Transcription of Blanche Hughes Interview, 2020 May 26
Item Metadata
Collection: CSU Sesquicentennial Collection (USES)
Creator: Hughes, Blanche, interviewee; Bend, Ron, interviewer Title: Blanche Hughes interview
Date: 2020 May 26
File Name: USES_006_Hughes_Blanche.mp4 Date Transcribed: April 2021
Editor: Helen Baer
Transcription Platform: Rev.com
BEGIN TRANSCRIPTION Speaker 1:
You can say this to me or the camera or Bruce, just state your name first and last and the position, the title that would be appropriate on the script.
Blanche Hughes:
Okay. Blanche Hughes, Vice President for Student Affairs. Speaker 1:
Perfect. All right. Capture that background noise. That's good. I think it's HVAC unless... Just sure we kind of open up, please describe the ways in which you've seen CSU adapt and evolve to respond to student needs over the past 20 plus years.
Blanche Hughes:
Okay. I'll start with, I came here as a graduate student in 1982, and so I've been here now over 35 years, left for a couple of years for different things, but ended up coming back. And so started my career here in Housing, I was a graduate student in the Student Affairs through Higher Education graduate program, worked in Housing, and then I was hired in Housing. So my first position here was Assistant Director of Apartment Life in Housing and Dining. And while I was a graduate student, I worked really closely with what was then called the Black Student Services, which is now the Black/African American Cultural Center, the name changed. Same purpose, same mission. And so that was my place to go and just volunteered, help with programming and help working with students, I got to know the director really well in the two years that I was a student, and it's three years actually.
So when the director of Black Student Services left for another position in the middle of summer, I was asked if I'd be interested in the position. I had worked for four years prior to coming here at my
undergraduate institution in Indiana, so I had some professional experience before I got my masters. So I jumped on that opportunity because to me it was a great way of combining... I went to a small college and really loved that experience, and it was a great way of combining that small college experience and a larger university, and working with a constituent that I felt like I had life experience and would be able to help students and I was familiar with the program. That was great. And I start with giving you context to what my answers are going to be because I started out really working with helping students, particularly black African American students, who were admitted to CSU, and there weren't very many of them. I think maybe we had around 200 stretching it, and that was in 1986.
Blanche Hughes:
So there weren't a lot at a large university. They were like less than 1% of the population. And really working to help students to feel comfortable here. And so 30 years ago, there were people at Colorado State who really believed in diversity, thought it was important, wanted to diversify the campus, and that's faculty staff and students, and that's white faculty staff and students and other ethnicities as well. But it was kind of a goal of Colorado State, but it wasn't really right. It was like, "Okay, it's important to have diversity, we get that." But like most other predominantly white institutions in the country, they diversified because the federal government made them do it. If they wanted federal money, they had to do it. And so they did.
Blanche Hughes:
But it was like an afterthought. So yes, the university did support having these cultural centers back then. And so we had one for Hispanic students El Centro, we had the Black Student Services, later, a couple of years later we had Native American Student Services, and then the last one to be added, which I think was added in the early '90s was the Asian Pacific. So understanding that it was important to have these spaces for students, when they were coming to a place where there were so few of them, and they needed support. And they weren't really getting a lot of support from the university. Basically when I took over that role, we were doing pretty much everything for students.
Blanche Hughes:
We helped them get the right financial aid. We help them sometimes even get admitted. We helped with any academic support. We helped if they had problems with faculty members. We were the people that they could go to. Also our responsibility was to help the university to be more welcoming to these students. And so I did a lot of work with faculty, with different departments, if they asked us to come in we come, just trying to say, "Hey, these students belong here too, and how do we make this work?" But it was a struggle. It was a struggle, it was a struggle for Collins because there were really very few people here. I joked that when I moved here in the summertime, it was two weeks before I saw another black person. And I thought, "Wow, they told me there weren't many of us here, but this is different." Blanche Hughes:
So really helping black students to understand, "You've come here, there is support, and here's where you can come." But it was also really important to me even then to say, "But you are a CSU student. And so you have the right to be able to take advantage of all the opportunities here, even if you go there and you're not welcomed, and it's clear you're not welcome. But how do we help you work through that? And what skills can you gain, so that when you graduate, you could feel like you had a good experience
here, and learned a lot about yourself, about the university, about your major, but also to get involved. So don't necessarily just stay here, but how do we help you reach out?" In what was pretty hostile environment, to be honest with you. For many students, it just was. After all they were the only black student in their class, sometimes they'd be the only black student, maybe in their residence hall, or at least all that they could see.
Blanche Hughes:
For some students that was fine. They grew up in a predominantly white area that wasn't that big of an adjustment, but for many of the students, it was a huge adjustment. At that time most of our black students came from Denver Colorado, we had some from out of state. So I would say that what has changed over those 20 years is, it has become more of an institutional value. As we talk about land-grant and access, we got that. We opened it up, we had access. But it's not just access to come, it's also access to be able to be successful once you come, and to feel like you're part of the community. That you're valued. That what you're bringing is valued. And it's taken us a while to get there. But as it's become more of an understanding, that part of being land-grant does include, especially the modern land-grant institution. The historical land-grant institution didn't include us either, as women or as people of color. Blanche Hughes:
But we pulled on that, I think that land-grant mission, as we started to learn more, and become more committed, from the board all the way through to the administration and to faculty staff, and even students. That's what I see has been the major difference over the last 20 years, is that it's not just a few of us on campus, just trying to do the best we can for the students who are here, the students who are marginalized. It's no, now it's an institutional priority. And that has happened because of the hard work of people that I've worked with, who have come and gone, who were so committed. Our past presidents that they definitely, Dr. Yates helped that, but even, Dr. Jud Harper, when he was interim was really saying, "We've got to do better."
Blanche Hughes:
We've had some amazing people in roles that said, "Let's just keep this going. Let's not lose this focus." And a commitment to the diverse faculty, staff and students who've come before us as well to help make that change. So now I know we're in a place now where now it's a commitment. Do we still have a lot of work to do? Yes, because we're still part of a country, a world that is still racist and sexist and classist, and we know we still have work to do, but we're willing to do the work. And it's not just a few people now, it's the whole institution, it's our board, it's even our community. So that's where I see a difference has been.
Speaker 1:
Very good. Thank you. When you talk about the institutional commitment, are you talking more recently about Race Bias and Equity Initiative?
Blanche Hughes:
That's one, but I mean even before that, it's been part of our values. Our principles of community is another thing. That's been two or three years for us to get through the whole university adopting principles of community that include diversity as part of that. It's just, when I first came here, I never would have thought that would happen, and it did. And I'm really proud of that. The Race Bias and
Equity is just the next step to it, that President McConnell has brought in to that. And I can talk more about that later, but that's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:
Okay. Good. So our next question, [inaudible 00:11:17] color have historically faced at CSU. Can you address some of those?
Blanche Hughes:
One of the most fascinating things and one of the great experiences I had when I became director of Black Student Services was trying to get alumnus, former black CSU students to become more connected to the university, because they weren't. And so I started asking, "Well, who could I go talk to? Who are the people in Denver who are graduates?" We had people who graduated from CSU, who were principals at schools in Denver that would not even allow CSU to come in and recruit students? They were here, they got their degree and they hated every minute of it. It was just the students themselves that kept each other here, it was kind of like, "Oh no, they're not going to force us out. We're we're going to do this." And it actually started primarily with athletes, they were some of the first black students to be recruited here.
Blanche Hughes:
And I love meeting with those alumnus and sitting there and listening to their conversations, and the things that they did, and how they bonded, and they all had certain faculty that they connected to, that helped them through. And there weren't faculty of color either. But once they left, most of them wanted nothing to do with CSU after that. It's like, "We got through and we're done." They stay connected among themselves, but not with CSU. And so I thought, "I've got to change that." These students need to know that people actually graduate from here and go on to have great careers. All students need that from alumnus.
Blanche Hughes:
So I went to Denver and started connecting with people. That's how I met Lt. Col. Mosley, which I know you wanted to talk a little bit more about him, but I met some great alumnus, and I started getting them reconnected. We started having for Black History Month a Black Alumni Weekend, where it was like a career fair where they would come and they talk about their experiences, and I'd even get alumnus to come, even to fly here for that on their own. I met some amazing people, and how I got them to come back was to say, "Okay, fine. Your experience wasn't great at Colorado State. There wasn't a position like mine. But now I'm here. So we've made some improvements, and the students need you. Think about how your experience would have been so different, had you had more role models that look like you to come and say, you can do this. So even if you don't love Colorado State right now, come on back to campus, see how it's changed. Please connect with our students. They need you." Oh yeah, that was great.
Blanche Hughes:
So they did. And then once I could get them back to campus... Now these are people in Denver, most of them, that had never been back to campus after they graduated, some of them 20 years. And they were like, "Wow, this has changed." "This different." "You have this?" "You all do this?" "You have this major?" And that's how I started to pull them back in. And I'm still doing that. So there are still people who had that experience, where they are not connected to CSU. And so that's been great conversations with our
alumni, in our office and even with development, and with colleges and everything. It's like you can't just see, this was a black alumnus that graduated and so and so, and call them up. You better know what their experience was like when they were here.
Blanche Hughes:
So they're not so proud to be CSU Rams necessarily. But that's a challenge for me and for us because I know we can bring them back, we have brought them back. And we're doing a better job now, I think in working with them to say, "Let's have a holistic, great experience at CSU so that when you leave here, you are proud to be a CSU Ram. Even if it's not perfect, and it's not going to be, but are we working towards it? Are we trying to address the issues so that you feel like you belong here?"
Blanche Hughes:
And so I think that that's one of the big things that has changed, and some of the challenges. Some of the challenges students still have here is because we're still Fort Collins is predominantly white community. They're historically and particularly in Fort Collins in this part of Colorado, the racism against, Latinx people and native American folks, is really pretty still prevalent as well as African Americans. So the education goes on, and that's not just here but that's across our country and the world, and that's really frustrating.
Blanche Hughes:
And so as students have had other experiences, and feel more comfortable here and feel like they have more support, they still get those questions in class, "We're going to talk about race today." And everybody turns to the students of color, as if they're experts on it. Or they ignore that they're even there and make really insensitive comments. And faculty don't always know how to handle those tough conversations. But we're working on all that. We're working with faculty. We're having education. And because people only know what people know, and where they've come from. That's the value of a college education for me is to be able to go and meet people who have different perspectives, come from different backgrounds, and be able to have interaction with them and get to know them and get to understand them.
Blanche Hughes:
You still may not agree on everything, and you probably won't. But can you have the respect, and understand that not everybody is like you and maybe some things you grew up understanding, it's not right. And so you've got to be able to open your mind. And that's what we continue to want to work on here. But there are still those issues. And many of us knew, those people older like me, things may get better, but there are still those underlying issues of racism that our country is founded on. So we're still working on it, it still impacts who we are. Even in Fort Collins, there are times that, and I've lived here like I said, for 35 years, I love Fort Collins, it's our home, not everybody knows I'm the Vice President of Student Affairs.
Blanche Hughes:
So I get scared sometimes if I'm driving and I see a truck and a Confederate flag coming out. And so as comfortable as I am, I know I can never be completely comfortable here. But that's anywhere. And that sucks honestly. And helping students and helping us understand that, that that's a constant battle. And we all have to keep working on that. And it's gotten worse in the last few years. And we know that, we see that.
Blanche Hughes:
So how do we help students to still feel they belong here? That they have something to contribute? As we know, the future students, as our demographics are changing, are going to be more first-generation, more students of color, and more low income students. That's who's coming to our colleges. And I love that because they're coming now to our universities and saying, to predominantly white universities and saying, "You know what? You all want us here, we have things to bring here too. So, we're coming to the classes, we're learning things, but we want to know what's our history that has been ignored all these years? Let me help you to learn some things professors that maybe you don't know, that weren't part of your education, but we refuse to be marginalized anymore." When I went to college, I went to
predominantly white colleges, I knew that my history was not going to be shared because the professors didn't know it.
Blanche Hughes:
I knew that I had to learn what they told me, I had to learn in the way that I had to give it back to them, even when I knew that it was incomplete, and in some cases incorrect. But I had to, because to be here, that's what I had to do. I love the students now. They're like, "Oh no. Oh no." That to me just brings joy to my face that they have the agency to be able to say, "There's a lot I need to learn, but there's some things I'm bringing and experiences I have, that many of you all haven't had, and I'm bringing those with me. So how do we figure this out?" And we're still trying to figure that out.
Speaker 1:
That's cool. Perfectly white institution preparing just to better serve traditionally underrepresented students. Can you touch on some of that?
Blanche Hughes:
Sure. Right. I think what's been really important is that we've acknowledged it. So you have to
acknowledge that we haven't done a good job at it. As great as Colorado State is, of the 150 years, we've done some amazing things, and this is something we have not done a good job at. So own it. Just own it. And we've owned that, and said, "All right, you're right. But we want to do a better job at it." So what do we need to do? And really having great thoughtful conversations, but understanding the history,
understanding, who needs what? We have a Student Success Initiative that very big part of that is helping faculty become better teachers. And what they're doing, not only for welcoming marginalized students, is helping all students, it's recognizing the diversity of all students.
Blanche Hughes:
So it's making us a better institution, it's making them better faculty, it's making us a better institution, our policies, our infrastructure, all the things that we just take for granted that have been based in white culture. That this is the way it is. "Well why? And why is it the right way it is?" How do we start
questioning those, the very fabric of our institutions? It's hard, because it's benefited a lot of other folks that didn't look like me.
Blanche Hughes:
All right, that's fine. That's not to deny that, it's not to make people feel guilty about that, it's saying, how now can we truly be inclusive and say, who have we left out? And what do we need to do to move forward? And how can we continue to learn from each other, with a history that has tried to keep us apart? And it's just when you understand that, then it really becomes fascinating. And so I think as an
institution, we are really acknowledging those things, that equity is important. We're still trying to figure out exactly what that means. And how do we get people on board with that? But for our country and our world, we better figure that out because this is our future.
Blanche Hughes:
And instead of being afraid of it, we need to embrace it. And I feel like as an institution, in the time I've been here, that's what we are doing a better job at. It's embracing that, and still recognizing when we have to go, "Oh, wow. I didn't realize that. Let me think about that. And let me do my own work about that too". "You have issues with it. Why? Why am I uncomfortable with this? Why is this rule of policy so important to me?" And wow! You might discover something about yourself. So much to read now, there's so much out there that there's no excuse for people not to educate themselves instead of saying, "Well, I grew up this way, so I don't know. Teach me." I'm happy to do some of that, but you need to do your own just like I need to do my own on things that I'm not as comfortable with.
Blanche Hughes:
And then we can sit down and talk about it, we can learn from each other, but I have to recognize what I know and don't know, and what work I need to do. So, I think that's the hardest part, honestly. It's fine when you can go to classes and you're made to do things, and you can see things that you kind of get it. It's you look inwardly and say, "Who am I, and what do I believe, and where did that come from?" And when you get those uncomfortable moments around these issues, embrace that. Difference, race in particular is so hard for people to talk about. It's so hard. And when people just say, "It's hard." And I say, "Yes, it's hard, but guess what? I've had to do this my whole good life. So I bet you could do it too. If I could do it, you could do it. So come with me."
Speaker 1: But it is hard. Blanche Hughes:
It is hard. It is so hard. Absolutely. It is... Speaker 1:
Good for you. Wow. You mentioned that John Mosley is still a little bit of [inaudible 00:26:01]. What the question here is what's been the impact of John Mosley's legacy on African American students at CSU? Blanche Hughes:
Well, first of all I don't think probably a lot of African American students even know who John Mosley is. We have a specific John Mosley program that is a program we started... I don't know, might be like eight years ago now or something, that is for student athletes. And it's a leadership program that is jointly done through the Black/African American Cultural Center and Athletics. The Student-Athlete Support office. And we they get mentors from Fort Collins, Denver former athletes. And they don't have to be CSU, former athletes. Just any former college athlete. And we meet in the mentoring sessions and they talk about their experiences, they talk about jobs and how they've made it through in the world at this point in time.
We have great conversations with the student-athletes about what it feels like to be at Colorado State, what it feels like to be an athlete here in Fort Collins, and how does that connect with their identities? And it's a great program. And so they know who John Mosley is. And actually when we had the program and Bridgette Johnson, it was her idea, who's director of the Black/African American Cultural Center to say, we should name this program after Lt. Col. Mosley, because she had an opportunity to meet him. He was alive then, and she actually went there and met with him and Edna and asked his permission for us to name this program after him, and he agreed.
Blanche Hughes:
And then after that he's come up several times, and Edna and his son comes up too, and his nephews were students here. So we keep that connection, and I feel really honored to have gotten to know him even when in his younger years, when he first came up and was part of the Alumni Weekend. But his experience here, coming in the 1930s, and then being such an amazing athlete but being a student in government, I think he was the president at one point a vice president, and then leaving here through all of that and then going... He learned how to fly here, and then becoming a Tuskegee Airman, and then going back to Denver and being such an amazing community leader there too. When you tell that story to students, they just love that. They just think that's just amazing. And like I said, we make sure our student-athletes know about it.
Blanche Hughes:
I think we talked about it a lot in Black/African American Cultural Center, particularly when they both were honorees for Founder's Day, both, Lt. Col. Mosley and Edna, his wife. So I think making sure we don't lose that story and keep telling it, so that all students would know about it, and knowing that there were people like him, and those who came after him, that made lots of sacrifices to be here. When he was here he couldn't even live on campus. These black students weren't allowed to live on campus until the '60s actually. So I think that you can find inspiration, but it also helps us remember that history. That he did amazing things, but he was very brave to be here. And the bravery he had, that his family had to let him come here to experience that, that's the same thing that's happening today.
Blanche Hughes:
Parents have to be brave to send their children here or anywhere, but particularly if they're students of color. First generation students, because they don't know, it's a new experience. And know maybe they won't experience the same things he had to experience, and in some cases they actually have
experienced the same things that he had to experience in the 1930s. That reminds us that we still have work to do.
Speaker 1: Few dollars there. Blanche Hughes:
If you remember early this semester, right after school started, I think it was first week after school, but I'm even going to go before that incident. We have had racial incidences, bias incidents, especially against our Jewish students and our Muslim students and in the community, just hate, racist, sexist issues, homophobic. We've had those, and we've tried to deal with those, and unfortunately we're going to have those, because this is a society that we live in and, and it's like, "How do we keep educating?" "How do we just keep addressing?" So even when Tony Frank was president, we had these incidences
and we've had to deal with them, and work with them, and we've had students tell us, "Here's some things that John need to be doing to help us." And we've been working towards those, we've been working towards those.
Blanche Hughes:
And then of course Tony moves on to become chancellor, and we hire our new president, President McConnell, and second week she's here, there's the black face incident on campus. And then that was followed by some bias students, I guess graffiti against, not only Jewish students, but also again, African American students and other students of color. And so we were just trying to deal with that, trying to educate the campus, trying to make sure everyone knew this is not who we are. Does that live up to our principles of community? We want to change that. We want to be change agents as an institution, and as a community as well. And so President McConnell was like, "What can I do? What else can we be doing that we haven't done before?" And so she then came up with a Race Bias Equity Initiative, and this is so, "Let's get input." There are people on campus that have been working on these issues for years, for years, and there's a lot of great things we've been doing, but there's also more we can do.
Blanche Hughes:
So let's gather some ideas from people about what else... "What do you all have in mind?" So that it becomes not just a few people doing the work, but more people as an institution, we all are engaged. And so that's what she came up with, the proposal idea. "If you all have ideas, faculty, staff and students, what would you say we should be doing as an institution?" And that was the beginning of the first really big project of the Race Bias Equity Initiative, was to gather input from the community about things that they would like to see do in way of proposals.
Blanche Hughes:
And while we were doing it, we were also... It's a new initiative, so we're trying to figure out how to do this. I guess about a month, maybe after President McConnell announced this Initiative, she asked me if I would be willing to lead it. And knowing this is a huge passion of mine, and working on these issues, particularly most of the diversity support for students in particular, so then division of Student Affairs. And so I said, "Sure, I'll give it a shot." So we collected over a hundred proposals. It was amazing. Proposals and good ideas, and it came from faculty, from staff and from students. Out of all of those proposals, we only had a few that said, "Don't do this. This doesn't make sense. We don't want diversity." I thought we'd get more, to be honest with you.
Blanche Hughes:
But out of over like almost 150, we only got like two or three. That's amazing. Great ideas. You could tell that people really, they may not know exactly what to do, but they know they should be doing
something, and maybe here's some ideas. And many of the ideas were things we were already doing. So one of the first things we learned is, we have to communicate better. Of all the things we are doing and have been doing, and how we have responded to past racist incidents. And so really that was the biggest eye-opener, I think for all of us. Because I think some of us thought we were communicating, but we're so busy doing the work, that we probably we didn't and we know we didn't, and so we're working on that. So that's another part of the initiatives is to better communicate things to the community about what we're doing.
And then there were some new things that we thought, or some things that people were doing that we could expand on. And so we're looking at those kinds of things as well. Lots of people for example wanted to bring speakers in, which of course we can't do right now, but in due time. Or we do it virtually. So we look for different ways to do it, but they want to bring speakers in, and so we're looking at maybe doing something with that, when we can. But great things about training more faculty in terms of having them understand more about diversity, so they can incorporate that into their classroom, more things for our graduate students, that was another big one. Having just the campus, the ecology of the campus, like pictures that you put up on the wall, what messages do you give?
Blanche Hughes:
When people walk across campus, and they don't see themselves or any diversity. What can you do about that? And just being more thoughtful about those things. Bring in the library things. Bring in different speakers. Different tours of different shows and things that people bring in. It was just some great ideas. We have a lot. We have this huge knowledge-base now of different things that people are wanting to do. Most of them fit into several different buckets, like I just said. And so we're funding a couple of those proposals, and then we're going to then work with colleges and different divisions to say, "Here's some great ideas that really are more focused in your area. Is this something you all want to take and do some more with?" And just look at what's our next phase of what we call the RBEI.
Blanche Hughes:
We did the proposals and now we've learned a lot through that process, we got a lot of input and community involved. We had over 60 faculty and staff review the proposals and narrowed down the ones that they thought were ones we ought to follow-up on. We met with over I think 200 and some students, and we did a separate one with them because we wanted to make sure their students' voices were heard, and it and got their input. So now we're going to take the subway to say, we've got some good proposals going. One is looking at doing more with our first-generation students, which is just awesome, because I think there's so much more we could do with that, in faculty and staff.
Blanche Hughes:
And the other two we're dealing with doing more education for graduate students, and graduate
teaching assistants, so that they not only can do better in the classes and working with our students, but also as they go on to be professors, many of them will... or researchers, they're going to have the space of knowledge around diversity and inclusion that they didn't have before. And what President McConnell kept saying was she wants something that's bold. And so we were looking at proposals that would really take us to that next level. And then making sure we are also there supporting things that already exist and keep the things that are working going.
Blanche Hughes:
So that's really where we're at with RBEI right now. Speaker 1:
Terrific.
And then I'll add, this spring, we added as a co-chair, Marianne Tavares, who's the Vice President of Diversity. She has been part of a core team for RBEI as I started it, but now we are working together and she and I are co-chairing which I think gives us even a broader outreach to the community.
Frank:
... The deal. The deal. Just jump in. Speaker 1:
Because I will... Frank was on the phone call, Frank [Boring 00:00:55], we had work to do on the phone. We talked about, based on where things are at with COVID and reopening in the fall, Karen said, ask Blanche to kind of address this whole thing, and we don't know all the details, but she was just trying to get a little bit of a segue into the fact that this has happened and what's the future looking like? And so, are we were opening in the fall?
Speaker 1:
And the actual question from Karen was, "Have Blanche talk about the resilience of students, faculty, and staff." And she goes, "She's been working with you on the Student Life Continuity and Recovery group." So she says, "Just have Blanche speak to this, because there's a lot going, even though we don't know exactly where we're at, it'd be nice to have something in the film that kind of addresses where [inaudible 00:40:49] have the film gotten done and whatever? Three, four months ago we got to probably adding the piece. But now that this whole COVID thing is a part of our life, or at least for a while, I hope not too much longer, what's it looking like for us, just trying to get back on our feet as a university?"
Blanche Hughes:
Yeah. I am really proud of our faculty, our staff and students, because to have this happen and turn our world upside down, and for faculty to have to many of them not teach you remotely, never taught remotely, I teach and I don't teach remotely, and so I can relate because I had a class too that I had to switch over, but I had help with that, thank goodness, in a week. So we're not talking about a whole semester in a week, it's just amazing, and I think they did the best they could. And for students, again, I work with student-athletes quite a bit and so I know how so disappointed they were. Our softball team, they were just doing so well.
Blanche Hughes:
And these students have worked their whole lives, and these are freshmen. And then not to have their season or the seniors, that track, and all of that, the pain of all that. And yet as I talk with some of them, because I call and connect with many of them, they're like, "It's been hard." And we cried a lot in the beginning, but we're make you the best of it, and we're trying to see how we can grow from this. And some people have found that they actually like, enjoy their classes online, that they didn't think they would, and there are other students that are really struggling with it, like I would, because I like face-to-face things.
Blanche Hughes:
But really taking a deep breath and saying, "Okay, we have to figure this out." And I know of many students who are still angry about it, and I get that. All the different emotions, and watching the administration, in my role I get to be in a lot of meetings, and as we're trying to plan, and we plan one
thing and say, "Okay, how about doing this?" And then the next day we get things changed. And we have to redo that.
Blanche Hughes:
And particularly with Housing and Dining, and our Health, CSU Health Network, being two areas that have had to stay open, we've had first line workers having to be there. And how do we protect them, and how do we support them when they aren't able to work remotely? And the students who couldn't go home because either they don't have a home to go to, or they're international students, they couldn't get home, and so working with them and the counseling, the support, all of that, working with our students and with our staff and watching my staff, and the struggles of the things you just take for granted.
Blanche Hughes:
Most of us said, "Did you ever imagine this would happen to us in our lifetime?" I have a friend of mine, one of my colleagues and her husband actually is an alumnus of CSU, but he's older. And he remembers when they had... I forget, was it smallpox? Or it was some kind of big pandemic where they had to come home early, and they had to stay at home, and so he has some memory of that. But most of us don't. And he was still small when that happened. But they just said, "Okay, but we got to figure this out. We've got to figure it out."
Blanche Hughes:
And yes, it's frustrating and people want answers, and, oh my goodness, I feel so badly because I want to give them answers. And we don't have all the answers yet because we have COVID, who's kind of leading the way right now. We're getting there, and we're getting better, and we're planning to. We want to be open in the fall because we know that's what students want, that's what faculty want, that's what we all want, but we need to do that in a way that is going to be safe. As safe as it can be. And everybody has to take responsibility for that as we're seeing now. We all have to figure out how we take responsibility, keep moving on, and yet be able to do that in a way that saves lives. And watching all of us struggle with that, while we've lost so much money, so much money.
Blanche Hughes:
And yet, I feel really good about what we're doing and how we're trying to work through this. And we will, we'll get through this. I think President McConnell's leadership has been phenomenal, I think the rest of the leadership of the deans and the vice presidents and the directors and everybody really, this is going to take everybody, and it's not an easy quick fix. But if we could try to stay positive, go ahead and mourn and grieve, because you need to, that's important, and some days are going to be better than other days, just when you think it's getting there you hear... It's like it goes back and forth. But we want to do what's best for this institution down the line, in the future, we've been here for 150 years, we want to be here for another 150 years, even if none of us will be here, but we have a responsibility, because this is such a great institution.
Blanche Hughes:
And we are a resilient institution. We have great leadership here. We have great students here and staff and faculty. We have to believe in our greatness that is going to help get us through, but we're going to have to work together on it. And that is the other piece I think it's really important. It can't be academic you do your own thing, research you do your own thing. No. If we're going to get through this, we all are
going to have to work together, and that's what I love, anyway. So it's like, "Come on you all, this is my world, let's do this together." Because I know we can, I've seen it. I have seen it work, so I know it can work. And that's what I'm excited about.
Speaker 1:
I was a graduate student here in '97 when the [inaudible 00:47:57]. You'd love to talk about this for a minute or two. Just anything that you felt like maybe we didn't touch on, we didn't get into it enough. Blanche Hughes:
I don't think so. I think I got into-Speaker 1:
You did it, [inaudible 00:48:07] Blanche Hughes:
... everything that I wanted to say is I thought about it. I-Speaker 1:
... Other than the 100 other questions I have in my head and I'd love to ask you, which would be like a whole other two hours [inaudible 00:48:18].
Blanche Hughes:
... Anytime I love to talk. Speaker 1:
Yeah. Well I enjoyed everything you've said, and it's just it gives me an interesting perspective. Did you not mean... I'm not
a-Blanche Hughes:
Like you, particularly white men, they say, "I don't think I am racist, I don't want to be, I want to be." And so I say, here's one thing you could do for me. When you're in places where I can't be at, you're with your friends, you're with other white men, or other white folks and things happen, conversations happen, comments are made, you have that opportunity maybe to have a conversation with folks, not confront people, like I always say, don't get into a fight with your grandfather. You love him, that's just... But just think about, "Wow." Or just sit around and say, "Hmm, my friend said, do I have any people that are different than me that are friends? Do I hang out? Who do I hang out with? And what do we talk about when we're hanging out?"
Blanche Hughes:
And just being more aware, and being able to be the person who can start conversations with people you care about or who say things and say, "Wow, that's really not how I see that. Talk to me more about that." Because I can't do that. I'm not in those spaces that you're in, but I'd like to be, or maybe I wouldn't. But you can
... But if you teach me then I can be in those spaces. Blanche Hughes:
... Right. Right. And that's a huge thing, I know that's a huge thing, but then it also it can be a very empowering thing too, because then you can feel like I am doing something, just to say, "If you just say, wow, that comment really made me uncomfortable." And then you [inaudible 00:50:12], I don't care. Okay, that's fine. I'm not going to get into it with you, but I just need you to know, and if ever you want to talk to me more about why that made me uncomfortable, I'm happy to talk to you about that.
Speaker 1: Interesting. Blanche Hughes:
And talk about it, talk about it with your children. Talk about race, talk about sexism, talk about classism, help them to see the things that people don't want to talk about. That's something everybody can do. Speaker 1:
That is true. That is true. Blanche Hughes:
Okay. Speaker 1:
Thank you Blanche. Blanche Hughes: Thank you.
