By Stephanie Tavares, LEDA Policy Corps member and student at Boston University
We all watched the world erupt into Black Lives Matter protests last May and as a result, promises were made, committees were formed, and discussions were held on college campuses worldwide on how to address racism in and out of the classroom.
As a Black first-generation student and president of my campus Black Student Union, I quickly became involved and led conversations about Minneapolis and George Floyd. By the Monday night after the protests began, I organized a call with 500+ members
of the Boston University community during which we identified problems and ways to improve our university. The student population mobilized to raise $150k to donate to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Black Vision Collective.
Meanwhile, the university remained silent until a week later. In this initial statement, my university president glazed over the protests and denounced systemic racism without any real reflections regarding the conversations his own university community
was having about instances of racism. It took another week to release a statement that addressed the pervasive issues on our own campus, but this statement still overlooked the concerns of the Black student population.
After some effort from the university and conversations with professors and administrators, I thought we would see tangible immediate action and support for Black students and other students of color. Instead, I was pulled into multiple directions by
administrators, professors, and students to lead in anti-racism efforts for Black students and quickly became burnt out.
This is the story of the Black campus student leader. Instead of fighting for change in the real world, we are struggling to support each other. We are leading diversity conferences, organizing opportunities for students and faculty of color to meet.
We are expected to answer positively when asked questions about diversity and inclusion on campus tours, but we know the reality of the harm that eager prospective students of color may face. We are expected to mentor other students of color with
the little knowledge we have about navigating the university space.
Quite frankly, I am exhausted of being a Black woman student leader on campus. I was told by a Black administrator that it’s best I come to terms with this invisible labor now because it is going to follow me wherever I go, in any industry and at any
workplace. These are the words of a woman jaded by experience. Her advice has stuck with me simply because it is unacceptable. I refuse to accept that that is a forever reality for Black women.
Colleges and universities need to combat systemic racism in higher education while not relying on oppressed communities to solely do this work. They need to consider the students who are working with them on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues and
ask them about the invisible labor that they are expected to do and the mental toll it takes on them. My recommendations for how colleges, especially predominately white institutions, can do this include:
Create a Campus Climate Index that identifies when students report acts of discrimination and sexual assault. BIPOC students and women are unknowingly entering into unsafe environments hidden by these universities.
Develop quality anti-racism training and diversify course syllabi. Institutions value diversity because it exposes people to other cultures, but imagine the experience of the one Black student in a sea of white people having to explain a microaggression
or an instance of racism. If we truly value diversity it is essential to understand the ways we all perpetuate harm within our communities. As Dr. Eric Grollment put it:
“Allowing students of color into otherwise white campuses does nothing to change the racial climate; you can have racial diversity without true racial inclusion and racial equality. (Just look at how racially segregated your campus’s dining hall is.)
Diversity in terms of the number of students of color doesn’t change the lack of diversity among the faculty and administration, the lack of coverage of race in appropriate courses, the absence of authors of color from syllabi, the absence and/or
underfunding of Black/African/Latina/Asian/Native American studies departments, and so forth.”
Establish a physical space on campus for BIPOC students to receive sufficient support to deal with bias and discrimination and just to enjoy each other. This safe space is important because many BIPOC students are required to cloak themselves
and conform to make others comfortable. It shouldn’t be the additional task of Black faculty to do the extra work to create this space either. This space needs to be intentional and crafted with staff and students to provide mentorship and cultivate
community.
Almost every student of color, regardless of their racial or ethnic background, I know has served in leadership positions on their campuses and has tried to make them better. All students deserve to feel welcomed on their campuses and know that their
efforts matter. I encourage all universities to look toward their students of color and think about the weight they may be carrying during these times.
Email to a Friend