To open the first of three forums, Amanda Goodenough, Assistant Director of Campus Climate, quoted a West African proverb that set the mood for the rest of the conversation.
“The lion’s story will never be known as long as the hunter is the one to tell it,” she stated at UW-L Speaks on Race: Listen. Learn. Lead on the night of March 10.
This series was a continuation of the open forum that occurred back in December about the Ferguson shooting. This forum, however, would bring the topic of conversation closer to home, discussing racist or prejudiced acts that occur on UW-La Crosse’s campus. Most of the presentations given focused on the statistics that Campus Climate gathered through their 2013 survey.
According to the survey, “The odds of seriously considering leaving UW-L are 92 percent higher for nonwhite students.”
There are many reasons to consider leaving the school , and correlated with the conversation. Goodenough quoted many student reports of hate incidents and reactions of the victims ranged from of sad, disappointed, anxious, scared, oppressed, belittled, exasperated, disgusted, brokenhearted and more. Beside the point of students considering leaving, the percentages were also dangerously high for numbers of students feeling unsafe in the classroom or residence hall, for being bullied, etc.
“There are students who want to do something, but they don’t know what to do,” Goodenough stated.
For all the students who want to take action about the race issues on campus, the point of this conversation was to listen in order to know what to do. The microphone was set up on the table, and people were invited to share their stories about racist experiences.
“It’s uncomfortable,” one student admitted. “Racism is messed up.”
With UW-L being a predominantly white college campus, having this conversation was very important to the Campus Climate office. Out of 87 reports to Campus Climate of hate crimes on campus so far this school year, 28 have been related to race in some form. These forums are drawing attention to the issue.
“These are uncomfortable conversations, and the first step is to sit down and have them,” Charles Martin Stanley II, the Assistant to the Director of the Institute of Social Justice, stated.
And though there were conversations, stories, and debates, some still felt there was unfinished business.
“We’ll never be able to promote enough mentally,” UW-L student Julius Starlin, stated. “We need to take action, make people feel.”
The next installment, Learn, will take place on March 31, followed by Lead on Apr. 21.
Campus Climate said they envision a campus where people can be who they are and others accept them so.
“‘We envision’ means this is what we’d like to see. Which also means it’s not happening yet,” Goodenough said solemnly.
The Campus Climate Office hopes to turn that around through their forum series.