After two opinion pieces in the Towson University school newspaper, The Towerlight, and a hashtag on Twitter that complained about the way TU handled racial incidents, the university’s president said TU will change some of its policies.
One of the Towerlight pieces described an incident with a white student: “A year ago he ‘chest bumped’ and poked his finger into the chest of one of the male employees, then called the workers ‘ni**ers.’ He disappeared for a period of time shortly afterwards. It’s not clear if official actions were taken against him or if he stopped coming to the Café on his own accord during this time. On Tuesday April 5th, 2016 he returned to the cafe to order a venti size cup. The woman at the counter could not hear him correctly over the loud machinery and repeated what she thought was his order. He responded angrily saying ‘your kind of people don’t listen’ and repeated his order. When he was given his order, he threw his change at the cashier. … We will not stand for this deliberate act of prejudice and racism on this campus while the administration of Towson University continues to yet again remain idle.”
Another opinion piece in the Towerlight said in part, “You allow racist things to occur on your campus and then you either ignore it, cover it up, or find some way to placate us ‘rabble-rousers,’ and repeat. You don’t take ownership of your mistakes. You really just want us to be quiet. In other words, you’re all about the image. You’d rather have us silenced than actually work towards fixing the problem.”
Kim Schatzel
TU president Kim Schatzel said in a statement today, Wednesday, that members of the school’s Social Justice Collective gave her a list of specific suggestions to address the concerns.
She said: Here are [the Collective’s] thoughtful ideas for change (in bold) and our responses to them:
- Timely response to hate/bias incidents
The university will establish a reasonable response time for responding to hate/bias incidents.
- Central coordination of hate/bias response efforts
The current Hate-Bias Response Team will be renamed to better reflect its current responsibilities; A central body with direct responsibility for responding to hate/bias incidents will be formed.
- Communication with hate/bias victim
Victims of hate/bias incidents will be informed about the hate/bias response process, the possible outcomes of that process, the progress on their case and their ability to participate in the process. - Publicizing of hate/bias procedures to the entire campus community
Campus personnel, students and guests will be able to report a hate/bias incident without having to contact the police and all police reports of hate/bias incidents will be independently reviewed by the university. The general reporting system for hate/bias incidents will be advertised to the entire campus community, including contract workers. - Increased transparency around crime log reporting
Any hate/bias incident that also meets the definition of a crime is reported on the crime log. All other hate/bias incidents that are not criminal offenses under Maryland law will be reported separately and with increased transparency. In addition to providing educational programming for TUPD staff members on these important issues, any Towson University employee who has responsibility for identifying and responding to hate/bias incidents must also be appropriately trained regarding university policies and any changes to our procedures. - Clarification of purpose of crime alerts
Crime alerts (via text and email) are used for incidents that occur both on and off campus that pose an immediate or on-going [physical and safety] threat to the campus community. Campus police determine those threats based on information they receive when a crime is reported. However, a means by which we can report race/bias incidents, either individually or in aggregate, is very worthy of serious consideration and will be assessed.
Schatzel also said she asked the assistant vice president for student affairs & diversity to lead a full review of the hate/bias incident process.
“In the days and months ahead, I will share more of my vision for addressing these critical issues and look forward to continued collaboration and dialogue regarding our progress,” Schatzel said. “Again I want to thank The Towerlight editors and staff, the BSU, the SGA and the Social Justice Collective for their attention and activism in support of an inclusive Towson community.”