On the last day of classes before spring break, the Kansas University campus was mostly quiet Friday afternoon. One exception was at the Sabatini Multicultural Resource Center, where about 100 people gathered for a racism forum.

The forum, “Community Conversation: Addressing Racism on Campus,” was hosted by the Office of Multicultural Affairs. More than a dozen students spoke, expressing feelings of a lack of respect for minority groups — whether based on race, religion or sexual orientation.

The forum was the second hosted by the OMA this week. On Thursday, a similar forum addressed an offensive character in one of last week’s Rock Chalk Revue skits.

Blane Harding, OMA director, mediated Friday’s forum and opened by saying he wanted it to serve as a turning point.

“Everybody knows the reasons that we’re here, and those reasons tend to be reactive,” Harding told the crowd. “From this point on, I want us to be proactive.”

Students of various backgrounds expressed feeling isolated or not valued on campus. Part of the problem is the way diversity is addressed, said Jameelah Jones, student senate director of diversity and inclusion.

“Diverse groups are seen as an add-on to the house, rather than an integral part of the foundation,” she said.

Harding asked the crowd to propose solutions. A common suggestion was campus-wide cultural competency training. Nate Thomas, vice provost for diversity and equity, said there are discussions at the administrative level about developing such a training program.

After the forum, Thomas acknowledged the effort is still in its infancy, but that forums like those held this week are the first step of the process to outline what such training would be like.

“Right now we’re doing things in pockets, but what we’re trying to do is make it more structured and standardized,” he said.