This letter was drafted on June 1st, 2020. Since sharing these demands at the virtual campus-wide Racial Justice Forum on June 3rd we have been met with so much support and would like to document the solidarity through this petition. We have since received a response from President Frederick Clark that confirms he has seen these demands and that he will be in touch with us with next steps. 

Dear President Frederick Clark, Board of Trustees, Bridgewater State University Administration, and our Faculty and Staff,

Say the names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Ahmaud Arbery. The university’s response to the ongoing resistance and uprisings against racism and White supremacy in our country has left many Black and non-Black students disappointed. In failing to explicitly affirm that Black lives matter, the university has chosen to remain neutral in a time where solidarity and community are critically needed. The health and safety of Black people in this country are threatened daily and the list of Black people whose lives this country fails to protect grows larger by each passing hour. Today, we write to you listing a series of demands collaboratively drafted by recent Black graduates that work to ensure Black lives are affirmed on campus: 

Our demands include:

• Recognizing and denouncing the racism and bigotry not only in the world but on our campus. Affirm that Black lives matter by tending to your relationship with Black students and faculty. Be transparent about our institution’s and overall community’s history and relationship with slavery and how that affects our world today. 
  We demand that the BSU Police Department be disarmed and their presence reduced on campus. We believe that alternative approaches to law enforcement such as implementing conflict resolution practices and increasing mental health professionals will keep students from harm without the risk of police violence.
• Review study abroad and service-learning trips to deter from White-saviorship models and reduce harm and ensure a mutually beneficial trip for both BSU students and the communities they are entering as outsiders. Implement mandatory classes prior to departure, to educate outgoing students about the culture, history, and customs of the locations they will be going to and the history of United States intervention, influence, and colonialism in these countries.
• In 2018, we celebrated the historic establishment of the African American Studies Minor on campus with over 60 students who’ve declared it as their minor. We call for the institutionalization of a Black Studies department. Scholarship centering the diversities of ethnic and racial groups, cultures, sexual orientations, and gender studies are currently only offered as interdisciplinary minors relegating their importance as addenda to students’ academic careers limiting the possibilities of devoted inquiry. It is long overdue for our campus to invest in a comprehensive and inclusive Black Studies Department that highlights and makes tangible the diverse histories, scholarship, and experiences of Black people, politics, and cultures both locally and globally.
• As former Resident Assistants, diversity training is often catered to not harming the fragility of white students and to encourage the promotion of residential living to increase the bottom line. We ask that Resident Life take steps to involve third party organizations led by BIPOC to lead diversity training that actively seeks to challenge and improve the cultural competency of Resident Assistants. We also ask that the university assists the Martin Richard Institute of Social Justice in reinstating the Social Justice RLC.
• We ask that you support our current full-time and part-time faculty members, especially those of color, by fulfilling your promises to uphold fair contracts with a commitment to hiring more full-time faculty and pay increases for part-time faculty. 

Our goal with these demands is to hold BSU accountable for their neutrality and complicity in issues dealing with race and Black lives on campus as well as to further diversify and establish a safe campus for the next generation of Black and non-Black students of color and faculty. 

Sincerely,

A group of concerned Black Graduates Class of 2020

Amaryllis Lopez

Mary Ankomah

Dajuan Frasier

Christopher Sonnie Jr.

Christabell Baah

Faira Cedano

Kevin Asifiri

Emely Abellard 

Rafheda Passley

Amber Riggs