A campus-wide forum to address the four bias incidents reported this semester was held in Michael J. Hagan ’85 Arena on Nov. 4.
The forum, attended by approximately 1,800 people, was organized by St. Joe’s administration in conjunction with faculty and student groups. The forum began with an opening prayer from Tom Brennan, Ph.D., S.J., English department chair, followed by an opening statement from University President Mark C. Reed, Ed.D.
“This is a statement about who we are as a university and what kind of university we want to be,” Reed said. “We never accepted racism and we certainly don’t now.”
A recap of the recent bias incidents was given by Cheryl McConnell, Ph.D., provost and vice president for academic affairs. Three of the incidents were classified as racial bias incidents. The remaining bias incident was classified as sexual exploitation, someone had drawn male genitalia on a whiteboard.
During the event, 10 students of color from diversity organizations on campus spoke about their personal experiences of racism and microaggressions at St. Joe’s. Brian Yates, Ph.D., associate professor of history, and Stephanie Tryce, Ph.D., assistant professor of marketing, also spoke about their experiences and their expectations for the St. Joe’s community.
Zoe Welsh ’22, president of Bridging the Gap, was the first student speaker at the forum.
“The habitual events of bias and hate are not isolated or uncommon. It is an issue that stems from cultural intolerance,” Welsh said. “Acts of racism have real and lasting impact on students here at St. Joe’s.”
Additionally, Wadell Ridley, MBA ’19, interim chief inclusion and diversity officer, and Mary-Elaine Perry, Ph.D., Title IX and bias response coordinator, spoke about the bias incident reporting process and community standards.
Zenobia Hargust, M.S., chief human resource officer, elaborated on the different outlets that members of the community can use when reporting bias incidents. Additionally, Hargust talked about the legality of hate crimes on and off campus.
Next, Adam Mullin ’20, president of the University Student Senate (USS), spoke about his expectations for students to intervene when witnessing acts of racism on campus. Following Mullin, Taylor Stokes ’22, secretary for inclusion and equity on USS, and Steven Bradley ’20, co-president of BSU, summarized their reactions to racism on campus and the next steps they would like to see from administration, students and faculty.
Look for our detailed coverage of the forum and the speakers in the Nov. 6 edition of The Hawk.