Senior Tianyi Li stated during a panel and discussion regarding racism on campus that she and four African-American students, including the victim of a recent racial incident, were sitting in the Cross Cultural Center in the Busch Student Center when, according to Li, the perpetrator of that incident walked by the center six times in a 15 minute time span.
“Maybe we need to think about that for a second as the victim; what message was he trying to send?” Li said. “I am scared for my life because he threatened to lynch. Would it really take a dead body on this campus for the administration to be proactive instead of reactive?”
SLU President Lawrence Biondi, S.J. sent out an email message to the SLU community an hour and a half before the beginning of the panel and discussion. In this message, Biondi responded to student concerns regarding these alleged incidents.
“If you feel you have been the victim of a bias incident or if you think you have observed one, I urge you to immediately report it to the Department of Public Safety,” he wrote.
Vice President of Student Development Kent Porterfield stated that the panel and discussion was the first time he had heard about the incident at the Cross Cultural Center described by Li. He added that he would like to talk to the students who felt threatened, and that “we may need to intervene.”
On Wednesday Feb. 10, a panel and discussion was held in the Wool Ballrooms on the topic “Does Race Matter at SLU?” A lot of concern was brought to Dean of Students Scott Smith regarding racial incidents on campus; on Jan. 15, a SLU student allegedly made racial remarks toward an African-American student. The student who made the remarks was arrested.
The panel began with opening remarks from Smith regarding the need for open discussion about these issues.
“Everyone in the room would agree that as a Catholic Jesuit University, this behavior can’t be tolerated. However, it did happen and it caused the hurt, the anger, the fear for not only the specific individuals but also for the greater community,” Smith said.
Discussion soon began after the panelists of students, faculty and department directors gave their remarks regarding racism.
Panelist Myiah Johnson, a Black Student Alliance Senator on Student Government Association, addressed her feelings regarding the Jan. 15 incident.
“It made me cry, and even though it was not directed toward me directly personally, it was directed toward me because it could have easily been me,” Johnson said. “On SLU’s campus, we have a very thick tension that people will just overlook and walk past. We don’t confront the problem directly at all.”
There have been five alleged hate incidents on campus since the beginning of the academic year, according to Kenjus Watson, program coordinator for the Cross Cultural Center.
Watson spoke about his experiences while attending Central Pennsylvania College, where he was harassed and chased by members of the Ku Klux Klan.
Despite these experiences, Watson felt that “somehow, this is more disheartening.”
In response to these incidents on campus, Smith is putting together a Bias Incident Response Team that will deal with these incidents on an individual basis.
“When something happens, there is a team that immediately goes into action, gets information out and addresses the concerns as opposed to hobbling things together to create an appropriate response,” associate vice president of Frost Campus Paaige Turner said.
Turner also addressed some of the stories that were told during the discussion.
“To be honest, I am shaking, listening to the stories that are being told.”
Biondi responded to the Jan. 15 incident for the first time in his email message.
“This is not acceptable anywhere, but certainly not at a Jesuit university and an institution with such deep roots supporting diversity,” Biondi said in the message. “What we can and must do as a University community is resolve that we will never accept intolerance or injustice against another human being, no matter what form it takes.”
This message kept coming up in the discussion as some students felt that Biondi and other members of the administration should have told the community about the racial incident earlier.
“Yes, I am happy that Biondi finally sent out a letter, what did it take? We as students had to go and demand to Dean Smith and tell them our concerns,” sophomore Kale Kponee said. “I am disappointed in this University and I am happy that we are now doing things and we are changing things.”
Porterfield later responded to these sentiments of a delayed response from the University regarding these racial issues.
“I have heard the criticism and understand the criticism; the University is very serious about responding to the issue,” Porterfield said. “There is no absence in the sincerity to respond.”
A number of students continued to express concerns that they don’t feel safe or accepted on campus after recent incidents.
“I’m not comfortable at this University, and I don’t feel safe. I don’t feel understood and I don’t feel like myself,” Kponee said. “I am constantly reminded that I am a black woman, that I am not American and that I am not white.”
