Through a videoconference, a University of Missouri faculty member and two students — part of ConcernedStudent1950 — spoke during a forum in Terre Haute Wednesday sponsored by #freeISU and a coalition of ISU employees.
Stephanie Shonekan, chairwoman of the Department of Black Studies at Mizzou, talked about incidents and events leading up to the protests that ultimately led to the university president's and chancellor's resignations Nov. 9.
Incidents over a period of years — including cotton balls placed in front of the black culture center, racial slurs and racial incidents — finally got to the point where students felt they could no longer be silent, Shonekan said. They called for the president's resignation because they felt the administration was not listening to them or addressing their concerns.
Now, less than two weeks after the resignations, Mizzou students and employees are hopeful the administration is listening because they care about race relations, not because of the potential for lost revenue, Shonekan said.
When university football players of color joined the protest and threatened not to play until the president resigned, the university risked losing $1 million had it canceled a scheduled game against Brigham Young University.
Shonekan spoke to a large gathering at Dede III in Hulman Memorial Student Union. Later, she was joined by two students active in ConcernedStudent1950, Storm Ervin and Marshall Allen.
One member of the audience asked Shonekan about the current climate on campus. Shonekan said that right after the resignation of the president and chancellor, many on campus were upset, and she got hateful emails and calls. There were negative comments on the social media site Yik Yak, and the climate on campus was tense.
There were security concerns. "It's still very tense here," she said.
Another audience member asked the students what kind of conversations they had with their parents about what they were doing. Marshall Allen said he tried to "keep it here" on campus because he didn't want his parents worrying about him.
As the presentation ended, Lakisha Johnson, an organizer of #freeISU, told them, "We support you and we stand with you ... Keep it going."
At that point, #freeISU representatives and representatives of the Equity and Inclusion Coalition spoke about what they are asking from the administration. #freeISU is a student group, while the coalition involves faculty, staff and administrators.
#freeISU is concerned about campus climate and lack of equity and inclusion for students from marginalized groups; it includes not just black students, but others who may feel marginalized including Latinos, international and LGBT students.
The coalition has six requests, No. 1 being a vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion to help minoritized employees "grapple with some of the issues we're struggling with on campus," said faculty member Mary Howard Hamilton.
#freeISU has as its top demand a re-establishment of the office of diversity to include a vice president for equity and inclusion by fall 2016 to oversee university-wide efforts toward inclusive excellence. It also wants more faculty, staff and administrators from minoritized groups.
It also wants training for all faculty, staff and students on cultural awareness/sensitivity, as well as a formal protocol for filing student grievances.
Johnson read a statement from Sam Dixon, who was active in the black student protests at ISU in 1969-70. Dixon was unable to attend. He said he hopes to come to ISU at some point in the future to give advice based on his experiences. "There is nothing more important than movements like Black Lives Matter and #FreeISU," Johnson read on behalf of Dixon. "We all need to have our parity, our fair share, on every aspect of life."
Kandace Hinton, a faculty member involved with the coalition, said she hopes ISU's president Dan Bradley will hear the concerned groups, and she believes the president "is hearing us."
He has told them that strategic plan committees are looking at the requests being made, but Hinton added, "I've been here 13 years and we've been looking at issues for 13 years. There is always a report. ... We're looking for action this time, and we're looking for action quickly."
Johnson said #freeISU has met with the president a few times. The group also is being told "there is a plan." She said she's been at ISU 3 1/2 years and is not satisfied with what's happened to address concerns. "Talk is cheap. We won't talk about what we're going to do. We're going to do."
One audience member asked how to better convey what #freeISU is about to majority groups. Student Aaron Hensley suggested approaching white ISU students with "gentleness and grace. ... They don't know what they don't know. You can't walk up to a white student and expect them to immediately understand what institutional racism is. And don't necessarily feel it's your job to explain that to them. Just share your story with them and hope they'll hear your story and empathize with you. ... That would be basic human instinct, to me."
But he also said if they hear people putting down #freeISU, "correct them."
He believes ISU students benefit when they have faculty from diverse backgrounds. "We get disserviced when all of our faculty are white. ... We need to be challenged, and we need to be educated on things other than ourselves," he said.