Student leaders met with Chancellor Randy Woodson and other University administration to discuss and develop ways to solve hate speech in the Free Expression Tunnel.

The Chancellor approved the formation of the University Values and Ethics Advisory Council after reviewing the 2009 recommendations from the Campus Culture Task Force. This council will be charged with making recommendations for University values and possibly developing a creed.

The council will also evaluate how the University facilitate student integration and how it can improve it. Administration is

looking to have the council established by February or March, and it will make its recommendations to the provost.

While the possibility of requiring a permit was not widely supported, students and administrators suggested student organizations share the responsibility to paint over offensive writings in the Tunnel. Many motions were made to design a stencil that would cover the paintings to send the message the campus community didn’t support the speech.

Student Body President Kelly Hook also talked about the formation of a student-led organization in the spring that would be charged with monitoring the Tunnel.

Education was another suggested solution. John Ambrose, interim dean of the Undergraduate Academic Program, explained the University did not want a University-wide required course on diversity. Strategic Planning Task Forces are looking into how experiential and service learning can be incorporated into the curriculum.

Student leaders chose to address this problem after the Tunnel Vision panel and the Roundtable meeting in November.