'Minority students have no place to feel safe on campus': Alabama students stage protest to
By Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com AL.com
Tuscaloosa, AL
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Students, both black and white, locked arms and stood in front of the doors at the front entrance of the building that holds the office of the administration's president.
"We are basically here to stand to show that we support Mizzou and their decision to end racism because sadly here at the University of Alabama, we do experience a lot of racism, and it is always brushed under the rug," said student Maiya Gaspard, a Tampa native. "It is not actually talked about here. It's always an idea to feel like it's OK when it's really not. So we decided to come here and occupy Rose Administration Building."
A flier -- using hashtags #NotJustMizzou, #AlabamaToo and #UABlackOut -- called for students to appear at Rose Administration at 8 a.m. on Friday and wear all black to sit in on the building steps to "show solidarity with the cause of changing the racial climate on college campuses."
The students entered Rose Administration Building prior to the demonstration and left a sheet of demands with the secretary to UA president Stuart R. Bell, Gaspard said.
The sheet reads that Alabama is no exception to "the climates on college campuses around the country" that "are not only unwelcoming to students of color but that they are violent, hostile, dangerous, and completely unsympathetic to our distress."
"We have initial demands that we find easy to accommodate as they are minute when compared to the years of inattentiveness we have already withstood as paying members of the Crimson Tide community," the letter says.
The demands include an immediate call to create an officer of diversity and a student advisory committee to work with the administration creating a plan that "should increase the recruitment, inclusion, retention, and funding of minority students, faculty, and programs." A permanent Office of Diversity should be set up.
The letter also says that "minority students have no place to feel safe on campus" and calls for UA to sanction a diversity space, which "must be in place no later than February 2016."
Elliot Spillers, the first black SGA president at Alabama in nearly four decades, met with UA President Stuart R. Bell on Thursday to join a "strategic planning committee" on the heels of racial protests at the University of Missour.
SGA president, UA president discuss racial equity
"My meeting with President Bell was very productive," Spillers said in a prepared statement. "We discussed plans to tackle systemic issues on campus as it pertains to diversity, equity & inclusion."
Spillers will now "serve on his strategic planning committee in order to work in the best interest of our campus community," Spillers said in a statement.
"My meeting with President Bell was very productive," Spillers said in the statement. "We discussed plans to tackle systemic issues on campus as it pertains to diversity, equity & inclusion."
UA spokesman Chris Bryant released the following statement on Friday's demonstration and the ongoing dialog between students and the administration this week:
"President Bell has been meeting with students, faculty and staff to listen to their concerns and encourage further dialog about issues of diversity and equality on our campus. We all share the same goal - to ensure The University of Alabama is a more welcoming and inclusive campus for everyone. While we are pleased with the progress already made, we know more steps will be necessary in the coming weeks and months. We thank our students for submitting their thoughts and recommendations as we move through this process to address both short-term concerns and long-term solutions."
Black football players at the University of Missouri (who were soon joined by their white coaches and teammates), recently walked off the field and pledged to boycott the sport until the University's president Tim Wolfe resigned, which he did a few days later. The event drew support from other high profile campuses across the nation, where students raised their voices over issues of systemic racism at their own schools.
AL.com's John Hammontree reported earlier this week that three students of color at UA, including Spillers, produced a brief video (directed by fellow student Patrick Maddox) highlighting the racism that they've experienced on campus.
Three students at Friday's rally said they'd experienced similar incidents involving racism on campus in Tuscaloosa and wanted to play a role in ending the tension on campus. They said they've experienced discrimination in a few ways, including being told they couldn't sit in certain sections at football games or being called racial epithets while walking on campus.
"I can speak from my experience. Walking back to my dorm and being called the N-word or things of that nature," said Kaylyn Williams, a Hoover native. "I know a lot of people who have similar experiences. If you haven't been called that on campus yet, then have you been here for more than a year? That's something that's way too common that needs to stop immediately."
"You're not fixing to push our issues to the side," said Mobile native and UA student Alexis Moody on the point of Friday's demonstration. "That's over."
The women said the administration has the power to create significant change immediately, alluding to the content of the demand sheet provided at the demonstration.
"First, I would say having a diversity officer or an administrator whose sole purpose is to increase diversity on campus, create an inclusive campus," Williams said. "Not just sending out emails saying this is something we're working on. Well how long have you been working on it? Where's the actual proof? We need tangible proof that shows that this is something that's going to be improved on.
"It's not fair that we have AlcoholEdu that we have to take as freshmen, but we don't have anything to deal with racism," Gaspard said. "So that could be a major improvement right there. Everybody needs to do a racism thing just like AlcoholEdu."
Williams also called for mandatory diversity training for the administration.
"You cannot tell me that you stand for us and then you're over here pulling doors assaulting us," Williams said, referencing a moment during Friday's demonstration where the women said a UA employee attempted to cross their barrier and then threatened to call campus police. "Your actions speak louder than your words, so obviously there needs to be more done about that as well."
The demand sheet handed out at the event says the following:
"We only have one demand.
Recently it has come to the surface of the nation's conscience that the climates on college campuses around the country are not only unwelcoming to students of color but that they are violent, hostile, dangerous, and completely unsympathetic to our distress.
Incidents of terror are woven into the fabric of the college experiences of every minority on every campus nationwide, and we have found our experience to be no exception. We have thus far been completely unsatisfied with the channels authorized to relieve minorities of the trauma that takes place in our everyday lives. On this campus we as minorities are the targets of several unresolved tensions surrounding race, class, gender, sexual orientation and other hegemonies. In addition, we have been urged on many occasions to be silent and wait for the violence against us to end. We cannot do this. Asking us for silence around our issues and dissent is a direct act of violence on top of the injuries we already sustain everyday. We can no longer withstand the wounds of our existence and we must vocalize our pain until acceptable remedies are put forth to heal and redress it. We wish to trust our administration and believe that they would not ask us to pretend as if our experiences are not real. Instead, we hope that they will meet our most dire needs and make serious changes on this campus.
We have initial demands that we find easy to accommodate as they are minute when compared to the years of inattentiveness we have already withstood as paying members of the Crimson Tide community.
Firstly, we have no diversity or officer of diversity. The position must be filled immediately, and must not be a pointless figurehead or someone limited by concerns for job security. For these reasons, an interim officer, who may be a graduate student with sufficient education in intersectional inclusion, should be appointed by the Black Faculty and Staff Association (BFSA) to carry out the duties until a permanent position is created. BFSA must also be allowed to spearhead the organization of a Student Advisory Committee (to serve as an interim Office of Diversity) that will consist of both undergraduate and graduate students from an array of student organizations and majors focused on diversity and inclusion. These appointments must be made by December 10. BFSA must also work with administration to sanction a meeting space. This space should be in place no later than November 30.
This advisory committee must conduct a series of town hall meetings to hear the requests of students and formulate a list of resolutions, which the interim officer with take to the administration. The interim office will spearhead the creation of the Office of Diversity and outline their top priorities and logistics.
A permanent Office of Diversity must be in place no later than Spring 2017.
The interim Office of Diversity must also sanction a diversity space, since minority students have no place to feel safe on campus. This space must be in place no later than February 2016.
In addition, the interim office must work with the administration to make a new and improved strategic diversity plan that will work. The plan should increase the recruitment, inclusion, retention, and funding of minority students, faculty, and programs. An interim office and officers of diversity that spearheads the creation of a permanent office is what we need. This plan is completely free and easily activated.
Sincerely,
Your Students"
Watch the student-made video about personal experiences with racism on campus. Warning: The video contains adult language.