by Joel Lev-Tov

To many, University of Maryland Vice President of Student Affairs Patty Perillo’s town hall seemed full of talk, but devoid of action — just a “pat on the back conversation,” even though Perillo said it was intended to create a level playing field from which discussions could emerge. 

This was until senior Jackson Devadas brought the flow to a standstill. 

“I was like, might as well say something that I know has been on my mind and many other people’s minds for a while,” Devadas said in an interview.

The town hall started with an update from various campus departments, student leaders, and Perillo herself. Perillo asked the student leaders what gave them hope and called on Devadas. 

“It’s a little hard to find hope right now,” Devadas, a physiology and neurobiology major told Perillo. “We asked some questions in the chat, and I know other people who have, and we didn’t feel like they got answered.”

Sarah Williamson, a coordinator in Perillo’s office, was fielding questions in the Zoom chat and reading them to Perillo, leaving many questions unasked. Perillo decided to extend the town hall by nearly three hours and opened up the floor because of Devadas’ comment.

“It was important for me to hear students and their journeys. By and large I thought it was ultimately a productive, healthy, honest conversation. And it was hard,” she said.

Student Government Association President Daniel Alpert said that points to Perillo’s dedication.

“I think what I really appreciate about Patty, is that you may have some administrators who would turn it off. They’d be like, ‘We hit 8:30, we’re done here. Thank you all for coming.’ It really shows the new leadership that we have in Student Affairs.”

Some students felt that Perillo listened but that barely matters without taking action. 

“I think it’s all bulls–t,” sophomore Anaya Truss-Williams said. “You can listen to us all day … Just because you’re taking time out of your day, doesn’t mean that you’re putting in real work into this issue.”

Truss-Williams recounted during the town hall that her math professor had told her to put her ADHD “in a box” last semester during office hours. 

“She had made the box motion with her hands. That’s the worst part,” Truss-Williams said in an interview. “Not only did she say like, ‘Oh, can you just ignore it?’ She literally made a box with her with her hands. Like it’s imaginary. Like it’s something that we can just like, talk about with metaphors like figuratively or something.” Perillo called it unacceptable when she responded.

Perillo said she does her best to advocate for students’ concerns to the rest of the administration in an interview and noted she had gotten some positive feedback from students after the town hall. 

The divide is deeper than just the administration, though. Many students don’t feel represented by UMD’s student government either, including the SGA and saw that manifested in the “chummy” relationship between Perillo and Alpert.

“Hell no.” Truss-Williams said when asked whether she felt SGA represents her. “I feel like there are so few spaces at the University of Maryland that I think represent me.” One space that does represent at least part of her identity, she said, was Black Terps Matter – largely because it is built to support Black students at UMD.

Alpert said he acknowledged the problem and was working to fix it through outreach.

“I’m in a privileged position where I get to work with administrators, and I get to work with different stakeholders on campus,” he said. “I see change happening. And even if that change is miniscule, I still see it. I think for a lot of students, we see change if it’s big.”

But Jake Foley-Keene, a junior government and politics major and a member of the Honors College Student Advisory Board said the problems run deeper, since the members of SGA and other student organizations are largely high-achieving students who can’t represent the struggling students.

“They – and me included – don’t know the specific experiences of those who are struggling the most.”

The concerns students raised centered mostly around the decision to not give students the option of a pass/fail grade this semester. Devadas said the implementation of a pass/fail system would be “an act of grace.”

“There’s so many things going on in the world right now. And I think for students to be able to have the option to take just a little bit of stress, just take something off of their plate, I think that would be so, so helpful for their mental health,” said Tyla Holoman, Devadas’ roommate and a senior chemical engineering major. 

Perillo said she did not have authority over the decision but repeatedly raised these concerns to Provost Mary Ann Rankin, the decision maker.

Many students remain skeptical whether action will follow.