By MAYA NAKKOUL
Opinions Editor
Students at The College of Saint Rose, and all across the country, are taking matters into their own hands and opening up conversations about racial discrimination, and they’re doing so by unconventional means.
An Instagram account called @blackatstrose began making posts on June 19 encouraging students (particularly Black and brown students) who have felt discriminated against to anonymously share their experiences in order to bring to the attention of the college that the fight for overall equality and acceptance is far from over. This account, and others like it, are a part of the Black Lives Matter movement which gained serious momentum after the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. Accounts like this one were also created for students at other nearby colleges, including Union, Bard, Skidmore and Sage.
The account had 230 posts and 1,412 followers as of July 16. The page’s bio features a link with several options for students including the submission form which has two parts, one for an individual to share their story and one where they may suggest specific ways Saint Rose can make its campus “more inclusive for students of all backgrounds.” Their bio also features a link which sends an individual to the anonymous reporting form for Title IV on the Saint Rose website.
The account has gained the attention of Saint Rose students, alum, and staff due to the severity of content students are sharing.
“Students in that class called me oreo the rest of the semester since I didn’t behave ‘like someone from the hood’ she did nothing to stop them,” said a student in a post about a psychology course taken at the college. While some posts are of students sharing their experiences, others were of students expressing ways they’d like to see change on campus.
Another post simply read, “The social work department has zero black professors. That needs to change. There are black social workers out there. Hire. Them.”
As the account grew, students of all races, genders, religions and ethnicities, began sharing their stories, and not just those of racial injustices. Brave students stepped forth to bring light to sexual assault incidents that supposedly went under investigated.
“I had to live with my rapist for the next two semesters,” read one post in which the individual explained the situation they had been put through.
While there is a list of demands which was created by the students of Saint Rose, The Black Student Union on campus has also created a separate, but similar, list of demands, both of which can be seen on the BSU’s Instagram account.
“Our mission is to continue to be that liaison between staff and students so that everyone feels included on campus and everyone feels like they belong at Saint Rose so there is no divide,” said Dachelle Warren, president of BSU for the 2020-2021 school year. “We want everyone to feel comfortable, we want everyone to feel like people, we want everyone to be okay.”
A campus wide conversation will be hosted by the BSU on Tuesday, July 21. Their meeting will have no time limit in order to give all students the opportunity to voice their thoughts and opinions.
“We want to give that open space so that everyone can express themselves and have that dialogue without there being a timer on it,” said Warren.
A recent conversation sparked on the @blackatstrose account is whether or not the comments should be turned off, with claims that the account promoted cancel culture.
“I feel like, if this account intimidates you, you are part of the problem,” said Warren. “If this account puts fear in your heart and you were afraid it will be you posted on this account, you might be part of the problem.”
The BSU is now focusing its energy and attention on what they, as a group, can do for the students of Saint Rose. They hope to do all they can to ensure that there will be no retaliation against students in the fall based on all that has occurred this summer.
“The Black Student Union does not have anything to do with the @blackatstrose page. We support and stand behind everything they’re doing but we are not behind the page,” said Warren.
The Instagram account has snagged the attention of various student run organizations, all looking to better themselves before gearing up for what is hopefully, institutionalized change.
Jaysalee Salcedo, interim president of the Student Association, has reached out to the @blackatstrose account from her personal Instagram account to offer the support and assistance of the SA.
“We need to start taking accountability for the mistakes within the system and start fixing it,” said Salcedo. “We need to start making changes to areas not serving the best interest of ALL students. We need to start listening and responding to the demands and concerns of ALL students. Most importantly we need to start being more transparent.”
The Student Association has plans to meet with all SA approved clubs as well as non-SA approved clubs, known as active clubs, to give them a space to vocalize any positive or negative experiences they’ve had with the student association.
SA will establish an anonymous reporting box for students to submit any complaints, or suggestions, that they would like to share. The organization will also more actively promote the use of the new bias complaint form which Saint Rose features on the “Diveristy & Inclusion” page under the Bias and Discrimination resource center.
With a rapidly growing number of followers, many students of the college as well as a number of alum have seen the account, are keeping up with the posts, and engaging in its content with comments expressing their support.
“The account was a good idea because it allowed people to be able to express their truth about their experiences,” said Akefia Morgan, a rising sophomore at the college. “I believe it was effective for the fact that people are beginning to listen to these students’ stories.”
Students are not the only ones who have used the account to express their support. An anonymous faculty member was recently featured on a post saying that they stand in solidarity with the students of Saint Rose and asked for students to express their opinions and needs in the comments.
“I think the blackatstrose IG account has revealed to a broader audience the depth of structural racism, and especially anti-blackness, on our campus,” said professor Angela Ledford. “It [the blackatstrose account] has been quite effective as a means for students to share their experiences anonymously, and it has clearly gotten the attention of College leadership. It is my hope that these testaments will translate into long-term, meaningful change.”
The faculty has recently passed a series of motions at a meeting that now await a response from the provost. These motions request administration to provide resources to establish a Racial and Ethnic studies program that would be staffed by scholars of color. Another motion suggests that the money that would have been used to appoint a “Director of Diversity and Inclusion” instead be used to establish two “Distinguished Visiting Professorships on Race and Ethnicity.” These professors could then teach courses on issues pertaining to race and social justice as well as offer training workshops and public events.
“I think the Zoom conversations have been effective in shedding light on racism on this campus. But this is only a first step. I think it is imperative that the College allocate (more) resources to support student learning, create additional faculty lines for scholars of color, enhance the requirements for diverse hiring practices, create a department of Racial and Ethnic Studies, and provide meaningful anti-racist training,” said Ledford.
Students at the college are not the only ones in the area to take this sort of step into political activism. Other students from various institutions have done the same.
An account that was originally called @blackatskidmore and later renamed to @BIPOCatskidmore began on June 16 and has 37 posts. BIPOC stands for Black, Indigienous, People of color. The more general and inclusion term accounts for the fact that various races experience discriminions in individualized ways.
@blackatsage, with six posts, began on July 2. Their second post which went up July 3 mentioned that the account was “inspired by Blackatstrose” and hopes that its followers will take the same steps the students of Saint Rose took towards change.
The @blackatbard account, with over 191 posts, was created on June 24.
The @blackatunion account began on June 19 and has 37 posts.
Students at Saint Rose and all across the country are learning from one another, and not simply from each other’s mistakes. They draw inspiration from one another. This account was one cog in the machine that is and will continue to be the Black Lives Matter Movement.
“We hope all the issues that have been posted by the Blackatstrose account get investigated and we want the investigative process to be public so that everyone knows exactly how everything is supposed to be handled and that it’s not behind closed doors,” said Warren.
