In October, only 11 students attended a community forum with University President Henry Bienen. But on Tuesday, more than 50 students crowded into the Multicultural Center to voice concerns to him about diversity issues.

The Multicultural Center Advisory Board, which hosted the forum, advertised the event as an “informal conversation” where students could ask Bienen personal questions about his background, daily responsibilities and hobbies. But the student-led discussion quickly focused on campus climate, minority faculty recruitment and the relationship between students and administrators.

“We have yet to see 10 percent of African-American students here on campus,” said Weinberg sophomore Tiffany Berry. “One of the things is the atmosphere, or the racial climate. The people we’re looking for in order to diversify our campus have no idea what diversity is. Therefore, I question whether or not they diversify this campus.”

Bienen said students, more than administrators, carry the main responsibility of creating a welcoming campus environment.

“How you live and deal with each other is the crucial way that Northwestern will have a climate that is hospitable,” Bienen said. “You have to look to yourselves … I can’t set the social climate.”

When students asked Bienen what NU is doing to hire more minority faculty, he said he wants to increase the number of minority faculty at the undergraduate level, but that it is difficult because pools of Ph.D. students are shrinking. For example, there are limited numbers of African-American Ph.D. students in math, chemistry and art history, Bienen said.

Some students laughed when Bienen said there is a lack of African-American Ph.D. students, and one left as Bienen was speaking. Bienen urged students to be calm and listen to the facts.

“If (students) walk away from the president of the university, that is a very bad thing,” he said. “If you want to tell me that your emotions are so important, but you won’t listen to what I have to say, then you’re telling me that I’m wasting my time in coming here.”

Bienen said it is hard for him to be attuned to student opinion at all times. His responsibilities include overseeing NU’s budget, raising money for Campaign Northwestern and meeting with the Board of Trustees.

Because his schedule is packed, students also need to be persistent in presenting their concerns instead of assuming administrators don’t care about their needs, Bienen said. He said he makes an effort to attend campus events so he can meet with students, but the size of the university keeps him from interacting with students as much as he would like to.

“Things go off and on my radar screen,” he said. “You have to be persistent. Let’s not start off with the assumption that it’s ill will.”

At the end of the forum, which lasted 30 minutes longer than planned, Bienen emphasized the need for communication instead of anger. Disagreement between students and administrators is inevitable but doesn’t need to be counterproductive, he said.

“At the end of the day, I have to do what I think is right, and you have to persuade me to do it better,” Bienen said.

Multicultural Center Advisory Board chairman Art Janik said he didn’t expect some of the tension that arose during the forum, but that he was pleased with the turnout and participation.

“The one thing I’m glad about was a lot of the issues that were brought up were diversity issues,” said Janik, a Medill junior. “A lot of things that were brought up could be handled by the Multicultural Center.”

Jenny Abrahamian said she attended the forum because she wanted to show Bienen that students care about campus issues. But she said she wished Bienen had brought a notepad to write down student comments.

“It would have been more reassuring if he were writing down the suggestions,” said Abrahamian, a McCormick junior.

Osato Dixon said he was pleased that Bienen had made time to meet with students.

“I think he met us halfway,” said Dixon, a Speech freshman. “One of the things we have to do is be respectful and thankful that he’s willing to sit down with us and to hear us out. From this, changes will occur.”