University of Missouri students asked Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin for policy changes during the race relations forum on Tuesday night.
Loftin, administrators, faculty and students met for the third time on the topic since the announcement former Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted for the shooting death of Michael Brown last year.
In the past week, students of color at the university say they have felt unsafe and threatened after an organized march in Greek Town, the area of campus populated by fraternity and sorority chapters, and after one Muslim student was targeted for her opinion piece about the film “American Sniper” in “The Maneater,” the campus newspaper.
Loftin said the university is still pursuing the anonymous threats made towards black students and the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture last year on the anonymous social networking app Yik Yak. He said MUPD has identified IP addresses of the threats, but the department is still working to identify the individuals behind the threats. Loftin said he wants students to be aware of the seriousness of harassment and hate speech, which can be prosecuted by the state.
When Loftin opened up the floor for comments, undergraduates and graduates shared their fears and frustrations from their experiences on campus.
Students told Loftin where they wanted to see change, including having a more diverse faculty, providing support systems for students who feel unsafe or threatened on campus and creating cultural education for student organizations, like Greek life.
Co-Chair of MU Four Front Council, which represents minority student groups, Young Kwon said student concerns at the forum match the call to action student organizations gave the administration last year. The list includes continuing the conversation with the administration and reevaluating existing diversity initiatives, like One Mizzou and the Multicultural Certificate.
“We’ve been talking about this for a long time,” Kwon said. “We know what we’re talking about because this is our experience, so these are what we think can be a first step towards inclusion.”
Kwon said she doesn’t think the forums are effective in creating change, but she said it’s important that student voices are being heard.
“This strengthened that our call to action is necessary and important,” she said.
MU sophomore Kelsia Barnes said the forum was a good opportunity to hear student experiences, but she said she didn’t think it was enough.
“These forums are only as good as the actions that takes place afterwards,” she said.
Loftin listened to all the comments, but didn’t have a response to every student’s question, story or complaint. He said the administration is focused on long-term solutions to address the larger issues.
“We want to sustain a systematic change in the institution and that won’t happen over night,” he said. “But if we do it right, it will fundamentally change the University of Missouri and put it in a better place.”
Loftin said one solution in process is a faculty council that will develop diversity education requirements for students. Astrophysics professor Dr. Angela Speck is leading the committee. She said similar requirements were proposed in the past, but she said 70 percent of faculty voted it down because of misconceptions about what the requirements were and what courses were being taught. Speck said she is looking for undergraduate and graduate students to be part of the process.
The next race relations forum is scheduled for April 29.