Story by Haley Penrod, Staff writer
Students appealed to the University administration to increase support for minorities on campus during the recent Listening Tour hosted by the president for the Council on Postsecondary Education.
Aaron Thompson, CPE president, discussed diversity on college campuses during his Feb. 18 and 19 Higher Education Listening Tour, which kicked off at Murray State.
“I am here to talk about your community,” Thompson said. “What do we need to do here? What do we need to do in Murray, Kentucky?”
One of the main concerns from the audience was racial bias on campus.
Blakely Broder, junior from St. Charles, Missouri, read a letter she wrote addressing her concerns about the injustices at Murray State. She said the letter was meant to thank Thompson for coming to Murray State to listen to the voices of students and community members. She wanted to address the concerns of other students in a letter because when they address these issues, their concerns are called hostile, contemptuous or disrespectful.
“Here I am, the white woman asking for the manager,” Broder said. “What is less threatening than that? I ask you to hear that the diversity and sensitivity training that is currently in place is not enough. An online quiz and a signature addressing acceptance is not sufficient and standard to ensure the equal treatment of my fellow colleagues on campus.”
This challenged the audience to think about how the CPE can help bring this racial bias to an end while improving faculty training and raising awareness of this issue on campus.
“Tolerance is not enough,” Broder said. “Acceptance is not enough. We need to enact racial bias training in addition to anti-discrimination training if we want to eliminate this undue burden from our education system.”
Yasmin Zarate, freshman from Milan, Tennessee, said Murray State does not publicize multicultural events on campus.
“I have seen advertisements on Instagram from universities about programs specifically for multicultural events,” Zarate said. “There are programs here, but [they are] not advertised.”
If these programs were more advertised, it would get more students involved on campus and focused on finishing their degree.
Thompson said it takes all of us to achieve justice, specifically racial justice. CPE created a new diversity policy that focuses on campuses being culturally confident. Universities have to show CPE that they are doing more to be accommodating for everyone, going beyond just policy.
Broder also submitted her letter to The Murray State News editor.
