“Go back to Nigeria,” found on a poster on campus, 2009.
“You only got into St. Olaf cuz of affirmative action, u dumb fuck,” found on a poster on campus, 2009.
“I came here for the lack of diversity,” 2009.
“What’s up with all the n*****s?” a message found on a poster in Rand Hall, 2012.
“Build the Wall, Trump won, deport all the illegals,” 2016.
When I saw pictures of these messages during the presentation, I was absolutely dumbstruck. In the world we live in, unfortunately, racism is alive and well. Whether through micro aggressions, individuals, or institutions, racism is everywhere. As a student at St. Olaf, I have always found my peers to be bright and dynamic, professors to be helpful and supportive, and the overall campus vibe to be a positive one. You can leave your laptop in the library for extended amounts of time and it won’t get stolen, people put your ID in your PO box if you dropped it on the ground, and we can all leave our backpacks outside Stav without worrying that someone will rummage through it. I believe racism is a problem wherever your go. But seeing that kind of vulgar language on my campus, in my community, targeted towards one of my peers, I had never felt more ashamed and disappointed.
On April 27th, approximately 400 student, faculty, and staff filled Tomson 280 to attend “Race and Campus Space: A Teach-In.” The event was sponsored by CUBE, Diversity Awareness House, Sociology/Anthropology, Race and Ethnic Studies, CMIE, and the SGA Task Force on Race. The turnout was large, forcing some to watch a live stream of the event in open classrooms. Large themes throughout the presentation included how to be a white ally, institutional racism, and individual racism.
During the presentation, a simplified version of “Student Policy Proposals” was presented. In the simplified version, there were a eight demands, many of which were targeted towards creating institutional change. The first called for the administration to better allocation of mental and physical health resources to students of color. The second requested for the administration to stop “tokenizing students of color.” The third called for the College to require all faculty and staff, present and future, to go through diversity training in order to learn how to better respond to micro aggressions and racial misinformation in the classroom. The fourth demand requested that a Civil Rights lawyer to be hired to represent students of color. The Proposal also called for the Admissions Office to more accurately portray the racial demographics in its marketing materials. The rest of the Proposal consisted of demands to increase the racial diversity of the faculty and staff, to better meet the financial needs of students of color, and establish a zero tolerance policy on racial, sexual, and homophobic epithets.
Some of the many messages and posters posted throughout Buntrock Commons.
Talking about race makes people feel uncomfortable. While walking through Buntrock, despite being a minority myself, some of the posters hanging on the doors and windows did make me feel uncomfortable. Even in racially diverse environments, talking about race, I believe, can still be awkward. And while it shouldn’t be, sometimes, I feel like people are afraid of sharing their opinions because they do not want to be seen as racist. However, what people need to understand is that talking about race does not make one racist.
In light of the racially charged crimes that have occurred in recent weeks, many students during the presentation suggested ways we can address the problem of racism on campus. One student suggested that the College should incorporate topics about race into the presentations given to freshman during Week One. As a freshman myself, I don’t remember the administration really talking about race or racism at all during Week One. Another student suggested that we expand the size of classes such as Intro to Women and Gender Studies and Intro to Race and Ethnic Studies. Because these classes often fill up quickly, there is obviously an interest and demand for such classes.
One idea suggested by a professor was that the administration create safe spaces for those who identify as white. In this safe space, students and faculty would learn how to become white allies, discuss their mistakes and their own challenges without burdening students and faculty of color. Because St. Olaf is a predominantly white, I believe the creation of this kind of safe space would be effective. Often times, when discussion about race occur, people who identify as white do not say anything because they feel like they shouldn’t and that they don’t belong in the conversation. However, I believe that people of all racial identities do have a voice in this conversation. We cannot solve the problem of racism with minorities alone. We need everyone’s voice.
As uncomfortable or awkward as it may be, we need to continue the conversation about race. Fighting bigotry cannot be done with silence. When racially charged crimes happen on campus, it is a threat not just to students of color, but to all students, regardless of racial identity. We are all part of this campus, we are all Oles. And we all share the responsibility of protecting this place against hate, bigotry, and ignorance.
A link to the presentation can be found here.
All images courtesy of Grace Reynders