Black Caucus made some important steps forward Wednesday night with its forum spurred by racist incidents that have occurred on campus recently.

This first of what will likely be many steps are solid, tentative ideas to end behavior such as racist, derogatory speech. The brainstorming results included asking Penn State to form a crisis response team.

Although details for what this response team would do are unavailable at this time, in theory it is a good idea.

Much of the problem at this campus is that past policies have sought to fight isolated incidents of intolerance with broad education policies that affect all students.

Although the number of these incidents is far too high, it is important to note that they are not propagated by a majority of students on this campus. Thankfully, out-right racists are a minority group on this campus; endangered, but unfortunately still not extinct.

This response team would be able to be proactive toward individual incidents, taking on the problem head-on. It's possible for this reason that our community can make even more progress than that after the Village in 2001. Obviously, there hasn't been much change since then if students say racist incidents are common here.

After four years, it's worth wondering how possible it is to force tolerance upon students who are racist or homophobic. It is absolutely worth trying to make the intolerant see the light. But when those same students graduate, will much have changed? Some have argued that we can't change most people's views when they enter college because it's too late; their backgrounds and opinions are already set for life.

There is a bit of truth to that, even if it is possible to change. Many students' political ideologies and views of the world form according to how they are raised. Families and friends at home -- from birth through the last day of high school -- can have a huge impact on students' views. So can the surrounding culture, whether it's urban, rural or anything in between.

So to truly combat the problems on the University Park campus, leaders here, whether they are Black Caucus or the administration, need to start looking at ways to combat racism in the communities where students come from before they even reach this campus. Although the task is daunting, it would also fight the problem at its root, before a crisis response team is even needed. Neither of these solutions is perfect. But hopefully they are positive steps toward a day when history books here at Penn State are littered with such injustices and taught to students who do not understand the stupidity of the times in which they occurred.