More than five decades that have passed since Susquehanna University's first African-American graduate set foot on this campus, yet remarkably little has changed. Even with that man serving as a Trustee we, as black students are still somehow out of place at Susquehanna.

We take most of our classes with professors who do not look like us and do not understand the African American/Black experience. We endure numerous micro-aggressions every day--we are expected to speak for all people of color, we are often the only Black person in a class, we are subjected to overhearing racist remarks by students and professors.

It is time for the Susquehanna University Administration to step up and and seriously address campus racial tensions and the lack of racial diversity Susquehanna University.

Therefore, WE DEMAND that the Susquehanna University Administration do the following:

1. Faculty

Increase the percentage of African American tenured/tenure track faculty to at least 13% of the total full-time faculty by September 1, 2020. The President, Provost and VP of Finance will develop a plan to recruit, hire, and retain African American professors to achieve this goal. The plan will include intermediate benchmarks. These administrators must then be held accountable if any benchmark or goal is not met.

 

2. Training

Many Susquehanna University faculty, staff, and students lack a basic understanding of what racism is and how it manifests on a daily basis. Susquehanna University will mandate that all faculty, staff and students receive basic cultural competency training in the form of the Undoing Racism® Workshop (or similar program) during their first year at Susquehanna University. All current faculty, staff, and students must complete the training within two years.

 

3. Academic Courses

As an institution of higher education, we demand that Susquehanna University:

1. Use current faculty and hire additional faculty to teach classes that will address the structural racism which exists on campus and in the surrounding communities.
2. Fill the recently vacated position of Associate Professor of African History with an open rank search to fill it by September 1, 2017.
3. Create and staff a Department of Africana Studies which will focus on the study of the experiences of the people of Africa and the African diaspora. This department will be interdisciplinary in nature and comprised of scholars in such disciplines as history, political science, economics, literature, philosophy, sociology, and psychology.

 

4. Student Recruiting/Retention

Susquehanna University has not taken the steps necessary to make itself attractive to all the talented and qualified Students of Color who attend college each year. The Vice President for Enrollment and Marketing at Susquehanna University will develop a plan to:

1. Recruit at more locations where there are African American students and at predominately black high schools.
2. Hire more African Americans to the admissions recruitment team.
3. Develop targeted financial aid and scholarship programs to increase enrollment of African Americans and other people of color. This should also include a fund to support first-generation, low-income, and undocumented students.
4. Increase the number of Students of Color who lead campus tours.

Susquehanna University must come up with a comprehensive plan to address these demands and a plan to achieve the changes outlined above and announce it publicly by 5:00 pm on March 1, 2016

 

#ConcernedStudent1964
@CS_1964_SU