There were protests at the Northern Kentucky University campus this week when a “Welcome White Week” poster was hung next to “Welcome Black Week” posters around the university.
The poster appeared to mock the “Welcome Black Week” flyer in design and with similar sounding activities like “White Lives Matter vs. Black Lives Matter,” “Pizza Party for Tolerance” and “L.G.B.T.Q.R.S.T.U.V. and You,” the Washington Times reports.
As students of @NKUEDU & most importantly African Americans we will not stand for mockery & disrespect. pic.twitter.com/IsoKNFQA0M
— Rho Gamma (@RhoGammaALPHAS) September 6, 2016
According to BuzzFeed News, the university stated that the flyer, along with the organization that created it, were “not approved or official,” and said on Twitter that the incident would be investigated.
On Wednesday, students gathered to peacefully protest the flyer and the underrepresentation of students of color at the university.
“The ignorance that stands on NKU’s campus is no longer acceptable,” James Johnson, one of the organizers of the protest, told student newspaper The Northerner. “It’s starting to become deliberate. Just like this person who deliberately copied our flyer.”
NKU President Geoffrey Mearns attended the protest, and at one point thanked protesters for the way they responded. “You’ve responded in the best way of the character of the people here and the character of this institution,” President Mearns said, according to The Northerner.
“You know how you defeat ignorance is through knowledge. You defeat despair and cynicism with faith and hope. You defeat darkness with light and overall you defeat hate with love. I’m thankful for the spirit of the conversation, and the way you’ve responded because you exemplify those traits and that’s why we know we’ll win,” President Mearns added.