On April 21, 1995 members of Xavante, a group of students from the ABC Coalition (APASU, BSU, and CHispA student clubs), hosted a rally for students of color to share their experiences as people of color at Puget Sound. The rally led to an open forum two days later with a panel of students representing Xavante and representatives of the administration including President Pierce. Xavante representatives arrived with a list of things they felt the institution could do better to support students of color, including increased scholarship support for students of color and the founding of an African American Studies program, to begin as a minor and grow into a major. According to The Trail article covering the two events, “The list stated that the University ‘needs to recognize that students of color in general and African American students, in particular, enrich the institution with their very presence’ and that ‘diversity contributes to quality and excellence.’ Xavante recommended the designation of scholarship funds to these groups as a way to increase campus diversity. The list also stated that the University and the Board of Trustees must make recruitment and retention of students of color the top priority of the institution and that failure to recruit and retain these students is the University's mistake.’" You may recognize some of these same complaints in subsequent moments of activism on campus.
The Xavante rally and panel were effective in many ways, and in 1996, UPS began to implement many of the changes called for by these students. From this call for more diversity on campus came more financial aid for students of color ($650,000 was added in '96), the Access program was expanded and funded, the Pathway Internship program was supported more on a systemic level, and there was a new "Diversity Conference" co-hosted by UPS and PLU, "The conference featured two days of lecture and discussion about race issues with speakers like Ronald Takaki, Tim Wise and Nathan Glazer" (Trail article from April 18, 1996).
