DePauw students joined the likes of Yale University, Ithaca College and Smith College on Wednesday when a peaceful gathering was held in the middle of Academic Quad as a show of solidarity with those who have been effected by recent events at the University of Missouri.
As previously mentioned in the DePauw, Tim Wolfe, University of Missouri System President, stepped down Monday morning due to what the Mizzou community considered a poor handling of racially charged issues. This was followed by chancellor R. Bowen Loftin announcing later that day that he will also be leaving his current position at the end of this school year to take on a role as director for research facility development.
After the news broke, more than 1,000 gathered on Yale’s campus to hold a “March of Resilience” in solidarity.
Tuesday, faculty at UM walked out of classes even after Wolfe’s recognition to show their continued support for the fight for racial justice on campus.
Ithaca College’s group People of Color planned a walkout that was held Wednesday.
Students at the all-women Smith College also participated in a walkout on Wednesday.
Racial tensions have been driven to a high point by recent events on two of the three campuses who have organized in support of MU. At Yale, tensions were recently inflamed when “a fraternity turned away black guests at a Halloween party, saying, according to reports at the time, that only white women would be admitted,” according to the Huffington Post’s article “Mizzou-Inspired Protests Coming At Other Colleges.” Ithaca’s president has also been coming into the spotlight for a “soft handling of racially sensitive incidents.” Smith is the only one of the three that seems to have undertaken their walkout for an end to racism everywhere, rather than in response to specific on-campus events.
When DePauw students gathered on Wednesday from around 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the crowd growing steadily larger throughout, it was an important stand to take. Our own recent campus climate is anything but free from racism: ever since Ashton Kutcher’s article “Excuse me, your privilege is in my way” racial tensions have been at the forefront of our campus dialoque. Last spring’s day of discussion was a step many felt was too little, too late, and problems spiked again when protests against the Campus Climate Ministries USA led to two African Americans from DePauw’s community being pinned to the ground.
Events at MU should hit close to home for DePauw students, but they should also cause us to realize that this is an overarching problem at universities across the nation, not to mention high schools, middle schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, etc. DePauw students did a good thing by standing in solidarity with those experiencing racism not just at Mizzou, but with those who experience is on our very own campus, and across the nation as a whole.