Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville is offering a tuition-free semester for information leading to the arrest of the person who left racist sticky note on a student’s apartment door.
According to KMOV-4, the university made the offer via a campus-wide email, which also said “the school and prosecutors don’t have ‘any tolerance for hate crimes.'”
Three days ago the station reported on the incident, a yellow sticky note containing the words “Filthy [N-word].” The Belleville News-Democrat notes that, in addition, a Confederate flag had been painted on a rock in the campus quad.
In response to the hateful note, the women’s studies department started the Door Project, a “teachable moment” (beware that term!) in which “faculty and staff were encouraged to write messages of peace and anti-racism.”
Chancellor Randy Pembrook said campus police are investigating the matter, and the culprit could face felony charges.
In a message posted on the university Facebook page, Pembrook said
While our initial attention will focus on acts of racism toward African American students, faculty, or staff, future discussions could confront broader issues of intersectionality, community, equity, and justice. For example, some members of our community may want to talk about the issues in St. Louis or national events that shape our feelings, experiences, and equal access to security and opportunity. Senior leaders will work to attend, listen, share and use this information to improve our campus.
The SIUE Facebook page also noted it will continue to “address any actions that violate campus rules and values,” including
• Creating an “immediate response team” for hate and bias on campus
• Developing plans for immediate support, including counseling and advising, for students, faculty and staff who are victims of racist, sexist, homophobic, religious discrimination or other forms of oppression
• Establishing a 24/7 hotline where students can get immediate help
• Instituting updated incident communication protocols to better meet future situations in a timely fashion should they occur
The News-Democrat points out that soon after the 2016 presidential election, SIUE students staged a walk-out to protest alleged racist acts across the campus. However, in the middle of that November 15 story we read “SIUE Police Chief Kevin Schmoll said none of the hate incidents have been reported to his department. ‘We are inquiring to see if these incidents actually happened in the first place,’ he said.
But they had to have happened. Right? Right?
Read more about the situation.
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