Local News: Baylor Racial Divide

Sphere: Related Content Opinions Divided Over the Nature, Extent of Racial Divisions at Baylor
By Tim Woods (Tribune-Herald staff writer)

From the Waco Tribune-Herald

Some Baylor University students say a chasm appears to separate black and white students.

Some call it full-blown racism; others say it’s a more subtle variety. Then there are students who say there is just a lack of understanding between the races. Still others say people are making something out of nothing.

Though the divide doesn’t appear too wide to cross, students admit it’s going to take some work to span it.

Some of that work began Tuesday when at least 40 students of various races, religious backgrounds and viewpoints discussed race relations at a weekly “Frankly Speaking” dialogue. Wednesday morning chapel services included presentations by the newly formed Bias Motivated Incident Support Team and about 60 students, faculty members and school administrators gathered at Miller Chapel at 4 p.m. for a prayer rally for unity.

The call for unity comes on the heels of racially charged incidents on campus Nov. 4, after Barack Obama was elected the nation’s first black president. A crudely fashioned noose was found hanging from a tree outside Morrison Hall. Later in the evening, black and white students exchanged words outside Penland Residence Hall but were dispersed by police before the incident turned physical. Outside Brooks Flats, students reportedly burned Obama/Biden campaign signs, though that incident has since been downplayed by school officials who said they understand students were burning empty computer boxes.

The incidents received a stern condemnation from Baylor Interim President David Garland the following day and have gotten the attention of the Baylor family and the national media.

Campuswide discussions

Now, Baylor is engaged in campuswide discussions about race relations, and student groups like the Association of Black Students and Baylor’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter hope that any campus racism can be stamped out fast. The groups are holding a silent march Friday morning.

“I think the major issue is just a lack of understanding, overall,” said Chrystal Buckner, a black student who is a leader with Impact, a Christian discipleship ministry at Baylor. “A lot of people are coming from different backgrounds, and Baylor is such a diverse university that when (students) come, they may experience people in their lives that they may not have experienced previously.”

Omari Head, a black graduate student who attended Tuesday’s “Frankly Speaking” discussion, said he thinks racism was at the core of last week’s incidents.

“A lot of students feel it has to do with race,” Head said. “They feel like the focus turned away from politics and went straight to race. A lot of students sitting here (at Tuesday’s discussion) said they feel like it’s something that has been stirring up for quite some time.”

Head contrasted parties at schools like the University of Texas at Austin celebrating Obama’s victory with what happened election night at Baylor. He said he recognized that the Baylor incidents did not reflect the feelings or actions of everyone at Baylor but said steps must be taken to encourage tolerance. He said that may be a difficult process.

“I think everything starts at the foundation of a person,” Head said. “Somebody here said that the times when we get angry are the times when we show our true selves, and I think that’s really true. But it’s hard to change that culture when it’s the foundation of a person. (Election night) we had students who wanted to rejoice in what had happened, and it’s sad to say that it got torn apart by a group of students who had a difference of opinion, whether it was political or racial.”

However, Brandon Herrera, a white student, brushed off the claim that the incidents were racially motivated, saying last week, “I think it’s people looking for a story and making something out of nothing.”

Chiquta Ruffin, a fourth-year black student, said she found the noose particularly offensive. She warned of a subtle racism on campus, which she said is more dangerous than knowing where a person stands.

Over the last week, several Baylor representatives, including Garland, student life Vice President Dub Oliver and student body internal Vice President Parker Short, said the incidents were the actions of a few and not a true reflection of the Baylor community.

Oliver told the story of a black student he spoke to at a local coffee shop who said that after the election night disturbances, a white friend immediately came to her room to check on her well-being.

“That, to me, is indicative of the overall Baylor community,” Oliver said.

Some students have criticized the school for simply reacting to racially motivated incidents and not encouraging racial tolerance from the first day students step on campus by holding seminars and discussions for freshmen during welcome week. The same criticisms arose in the spring of 2006, when pictures surfaced on Facebook.com of a Baylor student at an off-campus “ghetto”-themed party who darkened her face, reminiscent of “blackface” makeup. Some students said the race-related dialogue on campus after that incident was forced and reactionary.

Emmanuel Orupabo, a black student who attended Tuesday’s “Frankly Speaking” and a member of the Association of Black Students, said he was disappointed he learned about the event, which has been held for about three years, only because of the election-night fallout.

“I’ve been here since 2005, and there’s been nothing of this said in orientation or anything during (my time) at Baylor,” said Orupabo, who was with the group of black students who were involved in the battle of words with the white students outside Penland on election night. “Why are we just finding out about this now? It’s very reactive, when it takes (a racially motivated incident) to get people talking. It’s been going on, but no one knows of this, no one has heard of this. That discourages me.”

Multicultural events

Oliver, though, defended the school, saying a variety of multicultural activities are held each year and people tend only to take note of them when a negative incident occurs.

“To say that (the school only holds discussions and activities in response to possibly racist incidents) doesn’t acknowledge the efforts that many people on campus are involved in to really help Baylor live out its mission,” Oliver said Wednesday. “It’s something that we’re always about and something we need to continue to be about, as well.”

Short, a white student, said the discussions “are an important first step, but something that student leaders on campus have been working on is making sure it doesn’t just end with discussions and that some real substantive changes are made and, hopefully, something like this doesn’t become a reoccurring thing.”

Published on Thursday, November 13, 2008