Student-led demonstration forces administration to address ongoing racism

St. Joe’s students began a silent sit-in at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 7, occupying the lobby of the fifth floor of McShain Residence Center as the Board of Trustees met down the hall. They were protesting the university’s response to racism on campus.

The group was initially asked to leave by Mark Lemon, assistant director of operations of Public Safety and Security. Cary Anderson, Ed.D., associate provost and vice president of Student Life, intervened at the request of students, who continued the protest.

The students sat on the floor with signs that nodded toward the university’s mission, including one that read, “Is This How We Live Greater?”

“I’m here because two of my close friends were called derogatory names by a male student on campus,” Autumn Richardson ’22 said. “This situation has yet to be handled correctly, and it’s a shame that Saint Joseph’s, a Jesuit institution, is letting this racial act go.”

Richardson was referring to a racial slur left Sept. 28 on the residence hall door of two black students, and the subsequent response from the university that left many in the St. Joe’s community unsatisfied and angered.

Throughout the morning, Board of Trustees members passed protestors on their way to their meeting room. Some chose to acknowledge the protestors while others walked by.

At about 10:20 a.m., Board of Trustees member Sean Sweeney ’94 emerged from the meeting room and addressed the protestors.

“I appreciate your activism,” Sweeney told the protestors as he shook each of their hands, thanking them.

For the next few hours, students came and went from the fifth floor space, many leaving to attend classes or returning from them.

Some students put copies of The Hawk on tables, taped them to the walls and lined the floor with them leading from the elevator. They also placed on a table a Dec. 6 letter to the Board of Trustees from University Student Senate President Jason D’Antonio ’19

“I will be blunt–we have failed as an institution,” D’Antonio said in the letter. “We as an institution are working to complete the first step of recognition of a problem. Student organizations have expressed our belief that there is a problem and this problem demands our utmost attention.”

As the noon hour approached, more students arrived, emerging from the elevators and stairwell. By the time Board of Trustee members left the morning session of their meeting, at least 130 students and faculty were gathered, many holding up protest signs.

On her way out, Board of Trustees member Sister Mary Scullion ’76, R.S.M., told the protestors: “I hear you. I do.”

A few minutes later, University President Mark C. Reed, Ed.D., and Edward Moneypenny, chair of the Board of Trustees, addressed the students.

“Your silence, which we know is intentional, is heard,” Reed said to the protestors.

Reed then invited the group into the meeting room for a conversation with him and Moneypenny.

About 80 students and faculty members stood up and followed Reed and Moneypenny into the room where the Board meeting had just ended.

After the protestors settled in the room, Alim Young ’19 read aloud a letter that the political science department had sent to Reed the previous night. Young then read the letter from University Student Senate.

The letter from the political science department asked the administration to acknowledge the incident, apologize and “clearly accept responsibility for the mishandling of this incident of racial bias.”

“I offer you my sincere apology,” Reed said in response, “and I also apologize for how the university handled this, and we accept responsibility for how we handled it.”

Many students in attendance were not satisfied with Reed’s answers.

“I need something concrete,” Sydney Villard ’19 later told The Hawk. “Even though we directly asked them questions, they were still avoided and coated in niceties. I need to see something actually happen.”

Reed noted he planned to reach out and apologize in person to the two students whose door had been vandalized with a racial slur. One of the student protestors then pointed to Alyvia Benson ’22 and Camille Lodugnon ’22, saying, “The opportunity is right now because they are sitting right there.”

Reed turned to the women and said, “I offer you my sincere apology that this occurred…and I also apologize for how the university handled this matter. And, we accept responsibility for how we handled it.”

Afterwards, Lodugnon told The Hawk, “I thought his apology was bullsh-t because you need action behind your words.” Benson agreed, calling the apology “crap.”

Reed told the students the university would “take whatever action is necessary.”

“It is a clear goal of mine to continue to diversity the senior administration,” said Reed, noting that under his leadership the university had created a position for a chief diversity officer.

Monica Nixon, Ed.D., occupied this position beginning in August 2016 but left in July 2018 to take another job. The position has since remained unoccupied. University Provost Jeanne Brady, Ph.D., told The Hawk in September that the university would use this academic year to undertake a search for Nixon’s replacement.  

At the discussion, Moneypenny reiterated the Board’s support for Reed.

“There is a confluence of events here, at this moment of time, to actually get to solving this issue,” Moneypenny said. “We have the right person at the right time leading our university.”

But some students expressed disappointment in the administration, calling for the firing of Anderson, who oversaw the case.

“There’s no reason that he should have been able to say the n-word, hard -er, so easily as he did,” Hadassah Colbert ’20 said. “For him, the person to be handling a racial bias case, just to have it fly out of his mouth like that, that’s very shady.”

Colbert was referring to Anderson’s earlier admission that he had used the n-word in full with the “er” ending during a Nov. 12 meeting with Lodugnon, Benson and Benson’s mother. Anderson later issued a statement apologizing and explaining he had used the word to describe racist language on campus.

Students also raised concerns with not being heard by administrators, specifically Reed, who they noted had not responded to their emails.

“I respond to any email that I get directly from a student of the university or faculty or staff member,” replied Reed, adding he had a “good track record” in that regard.

Reed said he planned to issue a statement to the university community early next week in response to the incident.

Jack Mccaul ’22 shook his head while Reed talked to the crowd.

McCaul later said he doesn’t think the university is living up to its Jesuit values at the moment.

“If they were to go forward in the right way and be open with what’s going on, I think they could definitely change,” McCaul told The Hawk. “I think they have the ability to do the right thing still. I hope they will, but I can’t say I think they will.”

For Azizat Osinaike ’22, recent events have emboldened her to speak up.

“I’ve been called the n-word three times [on campus], but I never said anything,” Osinaike said. “It better change because then we’ll protest again and again until they do something about it.”

Erin Breen ’19, Natalie Drum ’20, Alex Mark ’20, Cara Smith ’21, Emily Graham ’20, Kaila Mundell-Hill ’20 and Ellie Bleecker ‘21 contributed to the story.