Participants in a Tuesday town meeting on race relations considered how Ohio State could improve community relations rather than focusing on past blunders.”We recognize at Ohio State that we have made mistakes in the past,” President William “Brit” Kirwan said, but he didn’t want that to be the main point of the evening.The meeting, titled “What Should Ohio State University’s Role be in Establishing and Maintaining Positive Race Relations in the Columbus Community,” was one part of OSU’s involvement in the Racial Legacies and Learning initiative, sponsored by the Ford Foundation, in participation with 50 universities nationwide. “What constructive things we can do in the future to make things better in our community,” was the direction Kirwan wanted to take at the meeting.The meeting, held at New Salem Baptist Church on Columbus’ near east side, brought together OSU faculty members and students with community members concerned about the state of race relations in Columbus. Eleven people representing various university and community groups formed a panel that laid the foundation for the discussion.”Young kids learn what their parents teach them,” said Preston Darnell, a panelist and a junior at Delaware Hayes High School. He believes mandatory race relations classes in the schools would help.Delaware Hayes High School has an elective race relations class. Cynthia Price, who teaches the class and is an OSU graduate student in educational policy and leadership, believes that early education will help prevent racism.”Students come out of Delaware Hayes ahead of the game,” she said.Other participants emphasized the role of OSU faculty members in improving community race relations.Linda James-Myers, associate professor in African American and African studies, believes that community outreach by professors can improve the impact of their teaching and research.”We have been monocultural, we have not been pluralistic,” James-Myers said. “We do see faculty trying to accomplish these goals.”Dara Cooper, a senior majoring in African studies, said that she believes OSU is off to a good start in regard to race relations but still finds her experience on campus difficult. “It’s really hard being a minority on a majority white campus,” she said.Megan Kaszubinski, an OSU senior and coordinator of Study Circles on Race Relations Student Group at OSU, said that she saw improvement first-hand through her group when two resident advisers who came from small towns joined a discussion.”It totally changed their outlook,” she said.Though Kirwan was present, he did not sit on the panel. “I felt that it is wonderful that there was some positive dialogue but I thought it would have went a lot better if the administrators [of OSU] would have been on the panel and those present would have answered questions, especially President Kirwan,” said Zakiyyah Jackson, a sophomore majoring in political science.The discussion was videotaped and will be shown to OSU administrators. A report will then be written and studied to “try to develop plans and strategies,” Kirwan said. He expects the plans to be finished sometime during Spring Quarter.Kirwan said that Tuesday’s dialogue contained two elements necessary to be effective.”People must be honest and there must be mutual respect; both occurred here tonight,” Kirwan said.