Kweisi Mfume, President and CEO of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
said swift moves by the president of Auburn University and
the Board of Trustees to deal with displays of student racism
should be a lesson for other universities recently hit with
racist student behavior.
Mfume said: “The move by Interim President William F. Walker
and the Board of Trustees to suspend 15 students who wore
Ku Klux Klan attire and blackface to a fraternity Halloween
party was a step in the right direction, but they should be
expelled. Racism is not a laughing matter.”
Mfume said, “By expanding course offerings on tolerance and
diversity and appointing a task force to consider establishing
a multicultural center on campus, Auburn officials have
shown an exceptional level of sensitivity to the need for
cultural diversity in higher education. I am also glad to see
that Walker has also solicited and received the assistance of
the Southern Poverty Law Center in providing tolerance
training to AU faculty, staff and students.”
The NAACP, Omega Psi Phi fraternity and a number of African
American Auburn students told AU officials the acts of hate
that were displayed by members of the Beta Theta Pi and
Delta Sigma Phi fraternities are symptoms of a larger problem
at the University and the surrounding community that stems
from the lack of strong policy against racist acts, few ethnic
studies and diversity courses and few African American
faculty members.
The NAACP, with other student and community organizations
called for Auburn University to: suspend the fraternity
members involved in the racist acts on October 25th and
October 27th and place them on summary suspension
pending request for an expulsion investigation; suspend the
fraternities involved in the acts for a minimum of four years
from the University; incorporate diversity education into
orientations; implement an aggressive minority recruitment
plan for students, faculty and staff with measurable
guidelines; convert the two fraternity houses into a
Multicultural Community Center; create a strong retention
program for students of color with student participation and
to adopt a Zero Tolerance for Racist Acts and Behavior Policy
that will include a committee with students of color
representation, who will assess, evaluate, and enforce the
policy.
In a statement released on November 15, 2001 by Auburn
University, Interim President William F. Walker has agreed to
begin implementing many of the concessions called for by the
NAACP and black students and concerned faculty members.
The University also announced Friday that it will ask the
university’s general counsel to request an investigation by
the Lee County District Attorney’s Office to determine if any
crimes were committed in association with the two fraternity
parties.
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