Anywhere in the nation, you cannot escape racial issues. On any American college campus you cannot escape racial issues. But what you can do is control how you confront it.
The issues of race and privilege are not just prevalent on DePauw’s campus, but other universities such as the University of Mississippi and the University of Alabama face these issues.
Last week at The Spring National College Media Convention in New York some members of the editorial board attended a session called, “Why is the paper always talking about race.” This session addressed how other universities are confronting issues of race like the ones DePauw is facing now.
The Daily Mississippian reported on Feb. 17 that the University of Mississippi Police Department discovered a rope and a pre-2003 Georgia state flag on the James Meredith statue in the center of campus. Meredith was the first black student at the university in 1962. The rope was tied around James Meredith’s neck like a noose, and the confederate flag hung on his back like a scarf.
The University of Alabama’s student newspaper, The Crimson White, published a story, “The Final Barrier: 50 Years Later Segregation still exist” on Sept. 11, 2013. This article exposed sororities not extending a bid to a black girl simply because she was black.
Thankfully, the recent discussions at DePauw University were not caused by events of this magnitude, but our conversations are of equal importance.
The discussion has been emotional and upsetting to many, but Ashton Johnson’s original opinion column and Grant Walter’s letter to the editor have sparked necessary conversation about an issue that this institution as a whole needs to address.
The editorial board wants to acknowledge how the administration and faculty, DePauw student government and students have responded to these articles in a thoughtful and constructive manner. The many forums held over the last week have been beneficial to this community rather than just a room full of students yelling at each other and getting nowhere.
Sunday night, a little over 200 students came together in the UB Ballroom to discuss race in the classroom and how DePauw can make the classroom an environment where students of all ethnicities feel comfortable.
The Academic Affairs office, administration and faculty have already started talking about and moving forward on how to address these conversations, President Casey said on Monday.
Like the editorial boards of The Mississippian and The Crimson White, we at The DePauw will not run from issues of race on our campus. We will face these issues head on, and we commend the rest of the community for taking a stand against these issues in a constructive way.
The DePauw community now has the opportunity to make the necessary cultural changes on our campus to ensure that instances like the ones mentioned above do not happen in our community. We need to remember not to turn the discussion into a fight, to continue being open enough to have these conversations and to be brave enough to see this through.