Proactivity needed for racial bias incidents
The allegations of two other racial slur incidents happening on our campus, as reported in this week’s issue of The Hawk, should not shock anyone.
Stories shared by students at last semester’s “When Will It Stop?” forum hosted by the Black Student Union showed that the incident involving a racial slur left on the dorm room door of two first-year women was far from isolated.
With this most recent incident comes the opportunity for real reflection instead of short-term condemnation and temporary discussion.
The ongoing efforts to address racism at St. Joe’s are incomplete without the knowledge that no policy change could ever fully rid our campus of racist attitudes. Even students who believe they are not racist can hold implicit bias, resulting in a possible indifference to the N-word, directed in separate incidences over the past two weeks at two black first-year students.
Our primary approach to addressing all racist incidents must be proactive rather than reactive, reducing the racist attitudes that cause them so that we may intentionally create a safer environment for students of color.
Let’s be clear: the N-word cannot be spoken by anyone who is not black. It is a word fraught with hundreds of years of oppression, dating back to slavery.
The power of what to do with the word belongs to the black community alone. Even if the word appears in contexts that are apparently innocuous, such as a song or a TV show, it cannot be repeated by anyone who is not black.
It’s a simple concept. Yet the N-word is used freely time and time again on college campuses. The cycle goes like this: a white student, for whatever reason, believes that they are free to use the N-word. When the student’s use of the term is publicized, they are condemned, students pledge to have intentional discussions, administrators promise policy change, and then another, similar incident happens, and it begins again.
Just last week at American University (AU), a video surfaced of a first-year student using the N-word, describing how he is free to use language how he sees fit. The video comes on the heels of a 2017 incident in which bananas were found strung up by rope on trees like nooses on AU’s. The incident was later determined to have targeted Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the first sorority established for black women.
One of the past two weeks’ alleged racial slur incidents involves white students who, like the American University student, continued to use the N-word even after it was expressed to them that the word was offensive.
This mindset that nothing is untouchable for white people, including racial slurs, is part of what makes it so hard to address racism anywhere, even at a place as small and insulated as a college campus.
When students arrive at college as 18-year-olds, they often bring with them a hard-to-change set of beliefs instilled in them by their parents and peers. Anti-racist education, while not an end-all, be-all solution, should be part of every first-year experience, from orientation to first-year seminars.
A Jan. 17 email from University President Mark. C. Reed, Ed.D., promised “changes and enhancements” to the First-Year Experience program. The most recent update on promised policy and program changes sent to the St. Joe’s community on April 9 did not mention any changes to First-Year Experience.
College is a time when students expand their worldviews, and are challenged to think differently by their classes and by conversations with new friends and classmates. The university must take an active approach in fostering anti-racist learning through curriculum and program development, starting with first-year students’ orientation.
Beyond that, this most recent racist incident must mark a change in how the administration adjudicates the usage of racial slurs on campus.
In the racial slur incident last semester, the student responsible was only required to issue a verbal apology. The newest allegations of racial slurs directed toward students of color provide an opportunity to send a clear message that racist language has no place on our campus, and that there will be real consequences for students responsible for using that language against students of color.
For those students who still insist on using racial slurs in a way that is intentionally malicious, warnings, reflection papers and apologies are insufficient consequences. In such cases, reactive approaches are warranted.
Pushback to the administration’s handling of last semester’s racial slur incident came largely from students and faculty, demonstrating a clear need for improvement in how the administration handles these types of allegations. Revising the adjudication process to include a three-person panel instead of a single hearing officer is a step in the right direction.
But it is not enough if the students involved in these past two alleged racial slur incidents are found responsible and the consequences do not match the severity of what they are accused of doing.
Let’s get it right this time.
—The Editorial Board
This week’s Editorial Board is comprised of the Editor in Chief, Opinions Editor, Assistant Opinions Editor, Managing Editor, Editorial Page Editor, Copy Chief, Lifestyle Editor, Assistant Lifestyle Editor and Photo Editor.
