One day after students forcibly entered Kirkland Hall, Vanderbilt Student Government’s March 28 Dinner with the Chancellor was postponed today by the university. The students were protesting the university’s cancellation of a VSG BDS constitutional amendment and entered Kirkland Hall — the location of Diermeier’s office — to attempt to meet with him and reinstate the vote.
VSG Programming Director Leo Huang, a junior, emailed selected students on March 27 informing them of the change. In a message to The Hustler, Huang said VSG was notified of the postponement by Student Affairs around 6:30 p.m. CDT and had no direct communication with the Office of the Chancellor regarding the change.
“We are working with the Chancellor’s office on identifying alternative [dates],” Huang said.
VSG President Sam Sliman expressed disappointment about the postponement of the event.
“It’s disappointing to see yet another example of the Chancellor making himself inaccessible to the students,” Sliman said.
The university did not immediately respond to The Hustler’s request for comment about the reasoning behind this change.
Sliman also spoke of the work put in by his cabinet and other VSG members to make the dinner possible. The event was coordinated by Huang; sophomores Simran Jain and Sarah Qaddo; and Traci Ray, associate dean for student engagement and leadership. Ray did not immediately respond to The Hustler’s request for comment.
“A lot of work has gone into planning this event, and I hate to see it go to waste just because the Chancellor doesn’t want to engage with student voices,” Sliman said.
The VSG Dinner with the Chancellor is an annual application-based event, for which 10 students from each class are selected to attend. To apply, students must submit an accomplishment from the current academic year — including the summer before each academic year — as well as detail its impact.
