St. Thomas holds campus-wide forum to discuss racism
The University of St. Thomas held a school-wide discussion on racism Wednesday afternoon to address hate speech and racist acts on campus. The school canceled all afternoon classes to encourage students and staff to attend.
The three-hour meeting drew more than 5,000 students and faculty members of the St. Paul school, who joined "its long journey" to fight racism.
"As the president, I was so gratified that many students came up to me and student leaders, (saying) 'we want to work with you.' And I said 'I need you because I can't do it without you,'" said university President Julie Sullivan.
The Wednesday forum was a kickoff of the school's action plan that was laid out last week in the wake of a recent racist act on campus. Kevyn Perkins, an African-American freshman at St. Thomas, found a hateful message which included the "N-word" on his dorm room door on Oct. 19.
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In a written statement on Thursday, Sullivan condemned the incident, saying it had made many students, faculty and staff feel "ashamed and disgusted" and that such racist acts are "not accepted." The school has opened an investigation into the incident in response.
The action plan consists of a number of short-term and long-term goals — from arranging school-wide meetings and providing trauma resources to recruiting more students and faculty of color.
In addition to the school's effort to tackle the problem, hundreds of students and faculty members held a sit-in last Thursday, organized by the school's African-American student association, Black Empowerment Student Alliance. The participants wore white to represent the current demographics of the university and to show solidarity with students of color.
According to its website, only 15.5 percent of the 6,212 undergraduate students at St. Thomas are non-white this school year.
Sullivan said that the school will continue its efforts to work with its students, faculty and the community to eradicate racist acts by healing and educating one another.
"We've laid out steps about how we will become a more diverse university in how we become a more equitable and inclusive university," said Sullivan. "Now we have to start doing it. We have to start talking about assigning responsibilities for who's doing what."