Volume 140, Issue 7 Wednesday, September 29, 2021
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STUDENT ACTIVISTS SP E AK O UT
Sydney Goodsell / The Daily Beacon
Nathan Lick / The Daily Beacon
Former SGA president, student leaders say UT uses student activists of color: ‘The university is taking credit’ EMMA COFFEY Staff Writer Student activists and leaders have pushed administration for various forms of social change in recent years and have had a major impact on creating an inclusive environment on campus. For one example among many, as a result of student leader and 2021 Torchbearer Maria Urias’ advocacy, Orange and White Halls were recently renamed after Black trailblazers and alumni Rita Sanders Geier and Theotis Robinson, Jr. However, some current student activists and past leaders think that the university is not giving student activists the support or recognition they deserve. Karmen Jones, UT’s 2020-2021 student body president, explained her thoughts on the university’s role on student activism, specifically on the renaming of the halls and what she sees as the reduction of Urias’ work to a footnote within the university’s celebration. Jones described her experience on UT’s renaming committee and the importance of giv-
ing credit where it is due. She said that recent graduates like herself have seen the progressive change they initiated while students but have been sidelined as the university administration centers itself. “Student representation should always be present. I was on the renaming and building committee that they have, and they didn’t bring it up one time that they were going to rename those halls,” Jones said. “After Maria graduated, that’s when they said we’re good to go and we are going to go ahead and do this ceremony. They didn’t even invite her to the ceremony. That’s the part that’s upsetting, because she advocated for that.” Jones said that the halls that were renamed are the smallest dorms on campus and that it is a simpler process to rename a hall than it is to approve a discrimination policy, like the one she worked on as student body president. When creating plans for the school year, the Student Life departments will submit a departmental program on what they want to do for the year, and then the programs will be turned in to the Vice Chancellor of Student Life. After that, the programs go straight to the Chancellor, who decides which programs will be imple-
mented. Sometimes a program can go from Multicultural Student Life (MSL) and end up in the Division of Student Success, because it is more connected to the work of the Chancellor. Jones said that ideas are being taken from students and faculty members that are part of these departments. “You have students that are coming up with these ideas and the administration is claiming that they did it, or not giving credit or support, ever. Then on the other end, you have departments that are overlooked, like MSL or the Pride Center, that are coming up with amazing ideas,” Jones said. “My main point is that the great ideas that the university is taking credit for is not coming from them going through brainstorming sessions, or experiencing racism or homophobia from first-hand experiences.” UT senior and SGA Cabinet Advisor Kendall Flores was a major part of leading last year’s protests against Melissa Hargrove, an Africana Studies professor who wrote a racial slur from the title of a song on a whiteboard during class. Both Flores and Jones said they experienced feeling overworked during this time.
“Last semester was my worst semester academically, I definitely was skipping classes for meetings and to make sure what had to be done was done,” Flores said. “You have to decide if you’re going to go to your class where cis-gender white males are always going to be able to go to because they don’t have to worry about attending these meetings.” Student leaders who are looking for change on campus report having to make a decision between prioritizing academics or fighting for change. “For those of us that may pick activism or programming, whatever our passion projects are, those of us that picked that over our academics, you’re going to pick going to a meeting on diversity and inclusion over ‘let me sit in somebody’s English class,’” Jones said. Jones stressed the importance of accounting for history correctly. She also hopes that the university will give credit to student leaders and activists in the future, which will inspire incoming students, because they will know they can achieve a certain level of reform.
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