By USCC
Contributor
Dear CSUSM,
As United Students of Color Coalition, we are taking the initiative to communicate the vision we have for CSUSM in hopes of helping our campus live up to its core values, mission and vision statement. Despite reaching the 25 year anniversary, it is both tragic and unacceptable that acts of racial and hatred racism continue to transpire on this campus. Over the last few years there have been incidents on campus that have served to increase the racial division among faculty, staff and students. Incidents such as:
-The vandalism of campus bathrooms with words like: “‘Get rid of slurs concerning [sexual orientation], [African-Americans], [Middle-Easterners], [Latinos and Hispanics] and tuition will go down’ -Tea Party USA”
-Hanging noose found in the library
-Harassment of faculty of color
-The Koala newspaper
-Harassment of student leaders who spoke out against The Koala
-Mocking of cultural appropriation
-Mocking of Cesar Chavez statue
-Scandal of Tom Metzger on campus despite strong community protests
-Presence of Border Patrol agents despite the fact that CSUSM serves AB-540 and undocumented students
-President Haynes’ incident of cultural appropriation
These incidents have negatively affected our community in ways that makes students feel like their culture is under attack. Recently, the university received the prestigious “National Diversity Award,” giving a false representation of our university. A university that does not have enough faculty of color, that does not have ethnic centers, that does not have Chicana studies, Black studies, or Asian studies, and a university that has continued to fail students of color on an institutional level is not diverse.
While we acknowledge that the university is aware of these issues, we feel as though these concerns tend to be thrown under the rug rather than immediately addressed. As students of color, we are working hard to make a difference, but the university needs to do its part, too.
In Solidarity,
United Students of Color Coalition