Students at Drexel University were shocked to find out almost two weeks ago that a member of their school community became the victim of a hate crime. On Wednesday, February 20, the University received an email from Drexel President John Fry condemning the incident in which a Black freshman found the N-word written on the bumble-bee name tag hanging on her door in Myers Hall. While the larger school community was surprised by the news that Wednesday afternoon, the incident was already being heavily discussed and shared amongst the Drexel Black community since Tuesday. Students were understandably upset that such an act of racism was committed on their campus- and within the Freshman community at that. Unfortunately, most students feelings on the matter is best summed up by the frequently commented phrase, “disappointed, but not surprised.” For many of the upperclassmen at Drexel, this event was a reminder of their own experiences of discrimination and microaggressions on campus, many of which went unnoticed or seemingly unrecognized by university officials. As a result, the leaders of the Black student orgs on campus congregated over what to do as a community to make the minority voices on campus heard. The decision was made to stage a sit in to be held that Friday, February 22, as a sign to the University that they will be held to their promises to have a “zero tolerance policy towards harassment of any kind,” and “provide a welcoming, inclusive and respectful environment” for students. The call for the sit in was spread throughout the community, and on Friday afternoon, a few dozen students, faculty, and community friends gathered in the Drexel Main Building to join in solidarity for “Every minority that has ever felt like they don’t belong that have been impacted by discrimination or hate--everybody. This is a community, overall,” said NSBE President DeShaye Carter. “This is not an attack on Drexel,” said DBAC President Kennedy Jackmon, “this is us letting them know that we’re going to hold them accountable, and to show everyone that we will not tolerate these acts.” The 10 organizations that collaborated on this event, listed below, thank the community for coming out, the faculty for showing their support, and the news organizations for providing coverage. Plans for a town hall to discuss relevant Drexel policy are in the works to follow up on the issue. Drexel’s Black Action Committee (DBAC) National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Drexel NAACP Drexel African Student Association Drexel Black Student Union Drexel African Fusion Dance Team West Indian Student Establishment Drexel Kappa Sigma Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Philadelphia Gamma Epsilon Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Philadelphia Epsilon Phi Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta
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DBAC DISPATCHCulture - Activism - Community Service Archives
March 2019
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