Walker Van Wey | Reporter
Nov. 16, 2016; 10 p.m.

This year’s presidential election has struck a chord with many people around the country including students at Lindenwood. The University’s Diversity Task Force is hosting an open event Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the Anheuser-Busch Leadership Room to allow all voices to be respected and heard.

Although Lindenwood has avoided violent protests and student walkouts by disenfranchised and marginalized students, the Diversity Task Force knew it was time to take action with their first big event.

“This actually wasn’t even planned ahead of time,” said faculty representative Patrick Walker. “With the tension of the election there’s a lot of people who don’t feel welcome or represented right now.

“We want people to understand we’re all interconnected and all apart of the community.”

The organizers plan for the event to hold a fun, party-like atmosphere while keeping the matter at hand in mind.

“We want to be very intentional about how and why we should come together,” Walker said. “There’s going to be artistic expressions, music, dance and a chance for people to express themselves with an open forum. There’s also going to be an audience Q and A, which is the most important part to me.”

Speakers will be both students and faculty alike and will be given 3-5 minutes to speak allowing the Task Force to make their point without exhausting the message.

“We’re trying to be respectful of the time limit,” Walker said. “This is more of a point to bring people together.”

Walker and the Task Force know that this will be a big step in sticking by their message in tackling the issues we choose not to face or may not know how to face in a placid, respectful environment.

“People don’t want to talk about diversity, homophobia, xenophobia and things like that,” Walker said. “Our message is promote love and unity. This is long overdue.”