Last week, The Beacon reported that some members of the Campus Conversation on Race Action Committee (CCOR AC), felt that “The Displacement,” an event which simulated the conditions of the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina, was met with resistance from administrators.

At that time, The Beacon was unable to print a response from the Department of Student Life. Associate Dean of Student Life Sharon Duffy has since provided her office’s reason for not approving “The Displacement.”

Duffy said Dean of the School of Arts Grafton Nunes and Dean of Students Ronald Ludman determined CCOR AC needed more time to make sure “safeguards were in place regarding safety, security and institutional liability,” Duffy wrote in an e-mail last week.

“I am in support of the event, but the logistics around its facilitation were in question and not the content or goals of the event,” Duffy wrote.

Duffy said she met with CCOR AC in December and asked them to draft a new proposal of their plan but said did not hear back from the group, or that it planned to use the Arlington Street Church, until two weeks before “The Displacement” was to take place.

“I think that the student planners had a vision for the event and the Deans had institutional liability and safety on their minds,” Duffy wrote. “Had we had the luxury of more time, I do believe that a compromised plan could have been reached and all parties would have been satisfied.”

Jessica Mann, PR Representative for CCOR AC, said she had been frustrated by the approval process but was glad that many members of the administration approached her to discuss the issue after last week’s Beacon article.

“We now realize we need to develop better forms of communication between students, faculty and staff,” Mann, a sophomore TV/video major, wrote in an e-mail. “Hopefully, by developing a better relationship between different bodies on campus, we will work together to promote a diverse mentality throughout Emerson College and the Boston community.”

Corrections

Due to an editing error in last week’s article “SGA helps lower price of printing,” the name of the comedy magazine La