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<div style="display: block;" id="reader-header" class="header"> <b><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/12/campus-race-protests-systemic-racism-yale-mizzou#_=_">http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/12/campus-race-protests-systemic-racism-yale-mizzou#_=_</a></small></small></small></b><br>
<h1 id="reader-title">The campus race protests are about
systemic racism that's never gone away <br>
</h1>
<div id="reader-credits" class="credits">Luna Olavarría Gallegos<br>
Thursday 12 November 2015 <span
class="content__dateline-time">12.55 EST</span><br>
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<p><span class="drop-cap"><span class="drop-cap__inner">T</span></span>his
week’s student protests may be organized on social
media, but they’re not addressing anything new. The
iconic moment of black campus protests was captured way
back in 1969, when students from Cornell University’s
Afro-American Society left Willard Straight Hall
carrying rifles and wearing bandoliers, part of a
protest against disciplining black students who had
advocated for an Africana Studies and Research Center.
Forty-six years later, students all over the country
continue to protest for their right to exist on a
college campus free of racial discrimination.</p>
<p>On Wednesday – just minutes away from Willard Straight
Hall – at Ithaca College in upstate New York, more than
1,000 students held a <a class=" u-underline"
data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body
link"
href="http://theithacan.org/news/over-1000-ithaca-college-students-walk-out-to-protest-racism/"
draggable="true">“Solidarity Walk Out”</a> to rally
around a vote of no confidence in the college president
for allegedly denying the existence of racism within
campus security and <a class=" u-underline"
data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body
link"
href="http://theithacan.org/opinion/letter-to-the-editor-professor-voices-criticisms-of-rochon/">encouraging
surveillance</a> of dissenting faculty and students.
It was one in a stream of race-related protests at
schools including <a class=" u-underline"
data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body
link"
href="http://www.nbcnews.com/video/students-at-califiornia-school-join-yale-mizzou-in-protests-564933187875">Claremont
McKenna College</a>, <a class=" u-underline"
data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body
link"
href="http://time.com/4106265/yale-students-protest/?xid=time_socialflow_facebook">Yale
University</a> and the <a class=" u-underline"
data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body
link"
href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/10/as-a-minority-student-at-mizzou-the-racial-tensions-there-didnt-surprise-me"
draggable="true">University of Missouri</a>.</p>
<p>These actions are more than acts of resistance to
systemic racism; these are demands to be respected as
students on college campuses. The rise of the <a
class=" u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag"
data-link-name="auto-linked-tag"
href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/black-lives-matter-movement">Black
Lives Matter movement</a> and visibility of racial
justice issues today have perhaps informed the protests,
but these student movements have been happening
repeatedly since the first person of color stepped on to
a campus of higher education.</p>
<p>There is a continuous history of excluding and
discriminating against students of color in forms other
than outright threats and violence, even before the
internet allowed the nationwide broadcast and solidarity
of grievances: ethnic studies classes cast as electives
instead of mandatory classes or part of legitimate
majors; lack of faculty of color; a dearth of funding
for student-led diversity initiatives; and the <a
class=" u-underline" data-component="in-body-link"
data-link-name="in body link"
href="http://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/pubs/abs/8853">absence</a>
of appropriate mental health services for international
students and students of color.</p>
<p>A <a class=" u-underline"
data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body
link"
href="http://www.browndailyherald.com/2015/11/11/under-pressure-caps-strains-to-support-students-mental-health-needs/">report</a>
published by Brown University’s newspaper earlier this
week found that there was no racial difference in making
appointments with campus counseling services but black
students there were more than “twice as likely to have
reached the seven-session limit and to have received
outside help”. Brown recently <a class=" u-underline"
data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body
link"
href="http://www.browndailyherald.com/2014/09/29/caps-add-staff-expand-outreach-students-color/"
draggable="true">expanded </a>its services to better
assist students of color, a change also on the list of <a
class=" u-underline" data-component="in-body-link"
data-link-name="in body link"
href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/read-university-missouri-protesters-list-impressive-demands-led-presidents"
draggable="true">demands</a> made by protesting
students at the University of Missouri.<strong
tabindex="-1"><br tabindex="-1">
</strong></p>
<p>These are not hypothetical problems. When protests at
the University of Missouri led to the president and
chancellor’s resignations this week, <a class="
u-underline" data-component="in-body-link"
data-link-name="in body link"
href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/11/11/some-at-u-of-missouri-on-edge-after-social-media-threats-of-violence/75559034/">threats</a>
on the app Yik Yak to shoot black students followed.
Mizzou students of color <a class=" u-underline"
data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body
link"
href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/11/us/university-of-missouri-racism-protests-history/">said
</a>that this was not the first time they have felt
unsafe on campus.</p>
<p>And at Ithaca, two alumnae came forward in the fall
with their story of how they were allegedly <a class="
u-underline" data-component="in-body-link"
data-link-name="in body link"
href="http://theithacan.org/news/ithaca-college-students-tell-their-stories-we-all-felt-each-others-pain/">physically
attacked by campus security. </a>Many administrators
claimed instances of physical violence as <a class="
u-underline" data-component="in-body-link"
data-link-name="in body link"
href="http://theithacan.org/news/blue-sky-kick-off-marred-by-racially-insensitive-comments/">isolated
anomalies</a>. Protesting students and <a class="
u-underline" data-component="in-body-link"
data-link-name="in body link"
href="http://theithacan.org/opinion/letter-to-the-editor-professor-voices-criticisms-of-rochon/">faculty</a>
countered that the acts of violence and denial of racism
are both part of a system of institutionalized racism
present on primarily white institutions all over the
country.</p>
<p>As a recent alumna of Ithaca College, I can attest to a
campus environment that boasts a liberal mindset while
obstructing students from taking black, Asian or Latino
studies courses through the implementation of a strict
core curriculum, hiring too few people of color for
tenure-track faculty <a class=" u-underline"
data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body
link"
href="http://theithacan.org/opinion/protest-organizers-issue-list-of-demands-for-ithaca-college/"
draggable="true">positions</a><strong tabindex="-1"> </strong>and
making <a class=" u-underline"
data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body
link"
href="http://theithacan.org/opinion/editorial-caps-funding-should-have-been-approved/"
draggable="true">no adjustments </a>to the mental
health program that would benefit students of color.</p>
<p>Also this week, students at Claremont McKenna College
in California <a class=" u-underline"
data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body
link"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/us/racial-discrimination-protests-ignite-at-colleges-across-the-us.html">gathered
in protest</a> of the administration’s response to
outcry over long-lasting problems with racism on campus.
The dean of students had recently <a class="
u-underline" data-component="in-body-link"
data-link-name="in body link"
href="http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=6973">responded
</a>to a student’s article regarding racism on campus by
referring to students who “do not fit our CMC mold”. The
rally was also inspired by a Facebook photograph in
which two students dressed up in brownface for
Halloween. In response, students demanded a social
justice center as well as the resignation of the dean.<br>
</p>
<p>And at Yale, more than 1,000 students showed up to a
“March of Resilience” after several students reported
being denied entry into a fraternity on the basis of
their skin color. In addition, after a public
announcement to refrain from racist Halloween costumes,
students of color became outraged when a <a class="
u-underline" data-component="in-body-link"
data-link-name="in body link"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/09/nyregion/yale-culturally-insensitive-halloween-costumes-free-speech.html"
draggable="true">faculty member questioned</a> this
announcement as an <a class=" u-underline"
data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body
link" href="http://pastebin.com/egSQGfgK"
draggable="true">impediment</a> to the freedom of
expression.</p>
<p>A nationwide movement among students of color united
with the goal to make institutions of higher education
inclusive in campus life and curriculum, as well as in
admissions, is a necessary part of the current
advancement of racial justice in this country. Instead
of being used just to satisfy a quota for a liberal
agenda, students are fighting to finally be recognized
as a legitimate part of academia. </p>
<p>At this moment, it is crucial that students
collectively reflect on the histories of their
educational institutions and of the organizers who came
before them to make sure 46 years from now they are not
still struggling to belong in these spaces.</p>
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