SELINSGROVE –There is a discussion about racism on the campus of Susquehanna University. The university say they have responded to a letter from a concerned student regarding racism on campus. The letter was sent to the University by someone calling themselves #ConcernedStudent1964, which was then posted on Facebook and shared by many.
In the letter, the student claims little has changed when it comes to diversity on campus at Susquehanna University. The writer of the letter claims to stand for other people in demanding the university increase African American faculty members by 13 percent, and mandate that faculty, staff and students receive basic training on racism and how it manifests itself.
They also want the university to offer classes which address racism on campus, create a department on Africana studies, recruit more African American students and hire more African American students to perform jobs on campus.
Susquehanna University said in a statement, “ We’ve received the letter. We held an open forum with students prior to the holiday, which 500 students attended. Many of the same issues were raised during the forum. Our dialogue with students will continue. We invite the writers of the letter to meet with us to discuss their concerns.”
The complete letter sent to Susquehanna University from #ConcernedStudent1964 is posted below. (Ali Stevens)
#ConcernedStudent1964
January 8, 2016
Susquehanna University
Selinsgrove, PA 17870
President Lemons and Susquehanna University Administration;
In the more than five decades that have passed since the first African-American graduate of Susquehanna University set foot campus, remarkably little has changed. Even with that man serving as a Trustee we, as black students are still somehow out of place at Susquehanna.
We take most of our classes with professors who do not look like us and do not understand the African American/Black experience. We endure numerous micro-aggressions every day we are expected to speak for all people of color, we are often the only Black person in a class, we are subjected to overhearing racist remarks by students and professors.
It is time for the Susquehanna University Administration to step up and and seriously address campus racial tensions and the lack of racial diversity SU.
Therefore, we demand that the Administration do the following:
1. Faculty
Increase the percentage of African American tenured/tenure track faculty to at least 13% of the total full-time faculty by September 1, 2020
. The President, Provost and VP of Finance will develop a plan to recruit, hire, and retain African American professors to achieve this goal. The plan will include intermediate benchmarks. These administrators must then be held accountable if any benchmark or goal is not met.
2. Training
Many Susquehanna University faculty, staff, and students lack a basic understanding of what racism is and how it manifests on a daily basis. Susquehanna will
mandate that all faculty, staff and students receive basic cultural competency training
in the form of the
Undoing Racism
® Workshop (or similar program) during their first year at SU. All current faculty, staff, and students must complete the training within two years.
3. Academic Courses
As an institution of higher education, we expect Susquehanna University to use current faculty and hire additional faculty to
teach classes that will address the structural racism which exists on campus and in the surrounding communities
.
Susquehanna will fill the recently vacated position of Associate Professor of African
History with an open rank search to fill it by September 1, 2017.
Susquehanna will create and staff a Department of Africana Studies which will focus on the study of the experiences of the people of Africa and the African diaspora. This department will be interdisciplinary in nature and comprised of scholars in such disciplines as history, political science, economics, literature, philosophy, sociology, and psychology.
4. Student Recruiting/Retention
Susquehanna University has not taken the steps necessary to make itself attractive to all the talented and qualified Students of Color who attend college each year. The Vice President for Enrollment and Marketing at Susquehanna University will develop a plan to:
- Recruit at more locations where there are African American students shift some resources from rural New England to places like Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, NYC, and predominately black high schools.
- Hire more African Americans to the admissions recruitment team.
- Develop targeted financial aid and scholarship programs to increase enrollment of African Americans and other people of color . This should also include a fund to support first-generation, low-income, and undocumented students.
- Increase the number of Students of Color who lead campus tours.
Susquehanna University must come up with a comprehensive plan to address these demands and a plan to achieve the changes outlined above and announce it publicly by 5:00 pm on March 1, 2016
Sincerely,
#ConcernedStudent1964
