Hundreds of students called on University of New Hampshire administrators to respond to rising incidents of racial tension on campus, which is 92 percent white.
Calling themselves the eight percent, the students said racially-motivated incidents – including slurs, threats and a student being spit on – have increased dramatically since President Donald Trump’s election.
“Things have been noticeably more tense,” senior Joyce Lekien said Friday, the day after a forum between students and faculty erupted over the university’s response to racially charged incidents on campus. “We were traveling around together, we were scheduling going to meals together. People don’t feel safe walking around.”
Junior Gabby Greaves said that at nearly every party she attends, somebody brings up the subject of deportation.
Political anxiety has seeped into the classroom too, according to sophomore Briana Garcia, who is majoring in social work.
“In all my classes, I’m the only woman of color,” Garcia said. “Everyone’s looking at me when I talk about race. I feel isolated in all my classes.”
Tensions came to a head last week during annual Cinco de Mayo celebrations at UNH, after a student confronted white partygoers wearing sombreros and serapes, calling them insensitive to Hispanic culture and racially inappropriate.
Soon after, two social media posts emerged showing white students wearing blackface, which many students said was the last straw. After weeks of what they say was inaction from university administrators, students called for a face-to-face meeting.
Hundreds showed up to confront President Mark Huddleston and other administrators in a tense town-hall style forum that lasted three hours. Student frustration was noticeable the entire time.
“As a graduating senior this spring, like many others, I’m tired of asking questions, I’m tired of answering questions,” Lekien told administrators. “So we don’t got no questions, we have demands.”
Members of the Black Student Union read off a list, including demands that the university double the number of faculty and staff of color, double its retention rate for students of color and add a mandatory social justice academic requirement for all students to complete before getting a degree.
It’s not the first time such a list has been created; students noted that black alumni, including Tito Jackson, who is now running for mayor of Boston, presented a similar list to former administrators in the 1990s.
Jackson and fellow students revived the Black Student Union as a response to the lack of diversity on campus. They believed the first demands they presented in 1994 – which also included calls for more diverse faculty and greater retention of students of color – went unnoticed when UNH changed presidents.
In 1998, Jackson and other Black Student Union leaders led about 60 students into the office of then-president Joan Leitzel for a sit-in. The peaceful protest got national attention and Leitzel promised to double the number of black faculty and quadruple the number of black students by year 2006, according to an Associated Press report.
Back then, minorities made up just 3.4 percent of the entire undergraduate student body. Today, they make up a little over eight percent.
That number has become a slogan for students of color at UNH, who chanted “the 8 percent speaks” over and over again after Lekien and others finished reading their demands.
To see the same problems persisting for nearly 20 years is disheartening, students said.
“I think it pretty much is like history repeating itself,” said junior Megan Esperance. “It constantly happens because the demands and the cries of people aren’t heard.”
On Thursday, Huddleston agreed with students that something needed to be done, but was short on specifics and asked students to give him input.
When it came to the student demand to get rid of Cinco de Mayo celebrations, he was in fervent agreement.
“It’s not a sanctioned university event,” Huddleston said. “I think it’s horrible. If I could wave my magic wand and shut that stupid celebration down, I would do it.”
When increasing staff diversity came up, Huddleston still agreed, but said that issue is much more challenging.
“I’d like to triple it, tell me how to do it,” he said. “It’s a complicated problem, and if you can find me the folks that are willing to fill our faculty positions next year, I’m right there with you.”
And when it came to the demands to expel three students who audience members said were posting racial slurs and blackface on social media, Huddleston said he was not comfortable going down that path.
“We have due process at this institution,” he said. “No matter how good you’re going to feel temporarily about that, it comes back around. You do not want to live in a nation that does not respect laws and due process.”
A student who identified herself as Alicia Casey responded to Huddleston, saying students of color have been reporting incidents – to no avail. Casey said there have been 100 incidents of racial bias since Trump took office in January, double the incidents that were recorded from August to November 2016.
“Where’s our due process when we report something,” Casey asked. “Reporting is not working for us. We don’t get results off of anything. I don’t want to hear about due process for racists.”
Casey asked Huddleston why there were different strategies for dealing with people caught drinking and smoking marijuana on campus than for people caught using racial slurs and posting pictures of blackface.
“Blackface is a direct death threat,” Casey said furiously, as students behind her clapped. “You will never know how that feels because you cannot take that skin off. I’m black, you’re white. You will never know how it feels to walk on this campus as a person of color.”
UNH spokeswoman Erika Mantz said that the safety and well-being of every student “remains a top priority for the university.”
“We listened carefully to the students last night and we look forward to working in partnership with students, faculty and staff to tackle these tough issues,” Mantz said in a statement. “This work will be ongoing and collaborative, and we will facilitate opportunities for education, awareness and action throughout the summer and coming year.”
But on Friday, students said that they did not feel listened to by Huddleston and the administration and specifically took issue with the president’s pleas for them to tell him how to improve the situation.
“They came in and said for us to tell them how to do their job,” said Greaves. “We expect them to be a little more prepared. Their lack of preparation made it seem like they didn’t care as much.”
(Ella Nilsen can be reached at 369-3322, enilsen@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @ella_nilsen.)