The Woods | Photo by Grace Ramsdell | The Wright State Guardian
Wright State University (WSU) students experienced racially motivated hate incidents, causing a student organization to create a call-to-action response to address racism on campus.
The incident
WSU saw its first reported incident of racially motivated criminal activity of the academic year in November 2021.
The incident labeled as a bias hate criminal offense, occurred on Nov, 29 in Hawthorn residential hall and included property damage, according to the daily crime log,
Deshawn Mumford, president of the Black Student Union (BSU), stated that the incident involved two African American students’ dorm-room doors being vandalized with racial slurs and comments.
According to Mumford, WSU Housing and Department of Public Safety (WSUPD) addressed and assisted the students within 72 hours of the incident.
This incident, while the first officially reported hate incident of the semester, is not the only occurrence of bias against minorities on campus. According to Mumford, slurs and bias language have been shouted from car windows towards African American and minority students on campus.
BSU student response
Following this incident, Mumford and BSU released a statement denouncing all incidents of racism, bias, hate language and microaggressions against the African American and minority students on campus.
“More action is required to ensure the safety and success of every student on our campus. We need to truly make Wright State a home for all students,” the statement reads.
The statement also introduced BSU’s #MakeWrightStateHome campaign. Mumford is hoping that this campaign will bring to light all incidents of racism and bias against minority students as well as encourage more students to speak up about racism on campus.
“It doesn’t matter if you [are] Black, white, whatever minority you are, if you [are] complacent and you [are] just quiet, [you are] contributing to the problem,” Mumford said.
The campaign will feature open forums, hosted by BSU, to discuss Black history and Black struggles with WSU students, staff and faculty. The campaign will also feature social media outreach and information posts from BSU.
#MakeWrightStateHome will begin in the 2022 spring semester.
WSU’s response
BSU and Mumford will be working with the university administration to discuss racism and bias incidents on campus as well as come up with solutions.
Like students, Mumford wants WSU administration to not only be swift in responding to incidents but also acknowledge that they happen on campus.
“It (hate incidents) is dealt with but it [is] not brought to light … it just adds to the problem,” Mumford said. “I would like to see the university speak out more about these racist incidents.”
Announced in the Dec. 6 faculty senate meeting, WSU plans to create a racial equity task force and a no-hate campaign to address minority issues. The campaign will be headed by Vice President for Inclusive Excellence Matthew Chaney.
The Wright State Guardian reached out to Lt. David Cox, of WSUPD, requesting the Nov. 29 incident report. Cox stated that the investigation into the hate incident is still ongoing and that a report would be available after the investigation has concluded.
It is not known when this conclusion will occur.
