For some Central Michigan University is a place called home, where students, staff, and faculty feel safe to be themselves. For others, CMU has not made them feel welcomed, safe, or loved. For years reports have shown that there are issues of racial injustice happening at CMU. Sadly, these detailed reports were met with little more than empty discussions of inclusion. Thus, people of color in the CMU community are often expected to suffer in silence and bear the well-intentioned, yet harmful, impacts of a campus that is not anti-racist. Since 2015 BIPOC within CMU has not been adequately studied or cared for by the institution. CMU has allowed its institutional silence to become violent by not following up on reports of racial injustice and not continuing to gather research concerning the racial climate of CMU. The white supremacy allowed to permeate through CMU culture has also largely impacted the students of color at the institution. Many have been excluded and marginalized within mainstream programming, activities, and other social conventions. Furthermore, they often have limited access to faculty, staff, and administrators of color for support. While CMU does offer some diversity programming, the current diversity programming does not do enough to support the safety, well-being, and full development of students of color at the university. CMU must overtly address racial injustices and fix its internal systems that lead to institutional racism.

The nationwide outcry against police brutality originally sparked this conversation. A small group of students conducted a survey between June 23, 2020, and June 29, 2020, via social media. We collected data from CMU students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members. As students of color, we wanted current data on racism, microaggressions, police interactions, and overall campus impression of CMU students. Participants anonymously answered questions via Google Form and presented us with the following data:

• Only 11.8% of Black respondents felt CMU is a safe place for People of Color
• 85% experiencing or hearing covert racism
• 40% of Black students do not feel CMU is a safe place for people of color
• Less than half of respondents (41.4%) feel safe when they see or are around police in Mt Pleasant.
• Only 14.9% of respondents felt that CMU was a Safe place for People of Color.
• Less than 20% of respondents agree that CMU’s DEI efforts are adequate.
• Only 20.5% of respondents believe that CMU is actively racist.
• 84.9% of Black respondents have experienced, seen, or heard overt racism on campus
• 91.3% of Black respondents have experienced, seen, or heard covert racism on campus.

Thus, change needs to occur. Here is a list of our requests/ calls to action for CMU:

1. We Call for CMU’s President Cabinet to be 33% BIPOC and 33% Women by the Fall of 2021.
2. We call for places for multiple Women of Color within upper-level administration. A minimum of 3 WOC should hold upper-level administrative positions by the Fall of 2021.
3. We call for the recruiting and retention of more BIPOC Faculty and Staff.
4. We call for there to be no all-white departments within CMU by 2022.
5. We call for the university to double the number of BIPOC in all faculty and staff positions by 2022.
6. We call for the removal of coded language as it inherently supports the White Supremacy Culture within CMU.
7. We call for all CMU officials to publicly condemn racism and any form of systemic oppression. Speaking only of inclusion is not enough. CMU must make public and internal steps to be anti-racist.
8. We call for continuous data collection and reports that reflect the climate for marginalized members of the CMU community. CMU needs to make the experiences of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ students a priority.
9. We call for yearly diversity report cards to resume starting in the 2020-2021 school year.
10. We call for a clear and public commitment from CMU and its community to become more Anti-racist in 2020.
11. We call for CMU to mandate Anti-racism training for all faculty, staff, students, and administrators in 2020.
12. We call for training to be external and suggest either The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB) or Crossroads Anti-racism Organizing & Training.
13. We call for CMU courses and student activities to actively support and mandate anti-racism training and diversity programs. Anti-racism cannot be optional. CMU must create an anti-racist culture that entends both within and outside of the classroom. 
14. We also call for spaces to be clearly dedicated to BIPOC students. There need to be safe social spaces clearly identified for them on campus by 2022. We suggest Barnes lobby, as it is not currently occupied by any office. 
15. We call for a clear system of bias reporting that provides adequate consequences to perpetrators by 20201. CMU must make a clear protocol for hate speech and hate crimes that protects BIPOC and is easily accessible for reporting. These should be mandated in the same manner as the diversity report cards happening annually. 
16. We call for the Next strategic planning team to be a minimum 30% BIPOC and feature multiple Women of Color.
17. We call for further diversification of the counseling center. We call for the counseling center to become 30% BIPOC by 2022. 
18. We call for a diversification of the Care Advocates within Residence Life. We call for the counseling center to become 30% BIPOC by 2022. 
19. We call for SOS forms to ask if professors have administered behaviors that are racist, prejudice, or involve microaggressions. 
20. We call for diversification within Human Resources. We call for the department to become 30% BIPOC by 2022. 
21. We call for transparency of the CMU PD Police Budget in 2020 and beyond. We call for a reallocation of parking citations to benefit BIPOC initiatives. 
22. We call for a diversification of the CMU PD. We call for the department to become 30% BIPOC by 2022. 
23. We call for continuous external anti-racist training, de-escalation training within the CMU Police Department by 2021.
24. We call for continued meetings (once a month) and progress updates for the aforementioned requests. 

We encourage you to sign this position in support of BIPOC in the CMU Community. Please share and continue the conversation to make CMU a safe place for people of color.