Students, administration focus on moving on from BCC crime

KU students presented MU organizations a banner in support of efforts.

By Zachary Murdock

Published March 12, 2010

As the spotlight on Feb. 26's incident at the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center fades, students, administration and members of the community gathered Thursday night to discuss how the incident affected both the communities on campus and throughout Columbia.

Thursday night's dialogue, "Courageous Conversations about the Black Culture Center: Moving Forward," was a continuation of the March 1 town hall meeting.

"At the Chancellor's Diversity Initiative, we felt it was important just to hold another dialogue session," Chief Diversity Officer Roger Worthington said. "We felt it was very important to have another opportunity for people to have their voices heard."

The event opened with a special presentation from University of Kansas students, who presented a banner in support of MU students' continued struggle against adversity and discrimination. The banner was covered with signatures of KU students who promised ongoing support for diversity across both campuses, despite the schools' heated rivalry.

Five KU students presented the banner to students from MU involved in several organizations on campus, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Mizzou Black Men's Initiative and the Legion of Black Collegians.

The dialogue began with a panel discussion about reactions to the incident, how those have changed and what dilemmas now face MU.

"My initial reactions were quite simple," associate law professor David Mitchell said. "I was angry, I was frustrated and I was disappointed that on this campus that I call home two students could do this."

Becky Martinez, Women's and Gender Studies visiting scholar, compared the incident to a similar event earlier this February at University of California-San Diego called the "Compton Cookout," a fraternity-organized, ghetto-themed party that was condemned by UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox as offensive.

"Stupid is the word that comes to my mind," associate communications professor Mike Porter said of the incident at the BCC. "I just can't believe how wholly stupid it was."

The five KU students in attendance expressed their dismay the event had not been well reported by KU's campus newspaper, The Daily Kansan.

"I was really shocked that I hadn't heard anything about it," KU student Samantha Pugh said. "It hadn't hit our school's newspaper. It wasn't a big news story."

As discussion continued, focus shifted away from Feb. 26's incident and toward the underlying issues that might have caused the event and how students and people in the community can work to ensure incidents like this will not happen again.

"We're working very hard on a regular basis," Worthington said. "You have my commitment that as long as I am the chief diversity officer of this institution, that I won't stop working to make institutional change happen."

Worthington discussed efforts to make an undergraduate requirement for qualified diversity classes and said the policy would be similar to the requirement for students to take writing intensive classes.

In addition to much discussion about diversity coursework and activities, Worthington emphasized the need to create a "culture of involvement and engagement" on campus and a push for more student participation in events like You In Mizzou and Difficult Dialogues.

"Over the last decade, the attitudes across this state that support this community have significantly changed," Chancellor Brady Deaton said. "We are absolutely and deeply committed to ensuring that this does continue, and we won't let one incident derail us from the path we're on."

As the discussion came to a close, several speakers expressed their gratitude that there has been such a response from both students and administration.

"Listening to these young folks talk has given me hope because I know just from the things they've shared that Columbia and the University of Missouri are in good hands," lifelong Columbia resident Marie Glaze said. "This is just a small stumbling block, and we are going to use this to make things better."

BCC Director Nathan Stephens said planning for a "ComMUnity Celebration" to commemorate the Unity Celebration on March 5 has already begun. The event will be held March 5, 2011, and will be open to the public, feature food, music and a forum for discussion.