Rowan University's Black Student Union Call to Action Meeting
On October 13, 2021, the Black Student Union (BSU) hosted a call to action meeting. The Call to Action was open forum organized with the intent of voicing and addressing the concerns of the Black student body on campus. The purpose of the event was to the present the demands to the entire campus community and receive updates from campus administrators on the progress and steps taken since the 2020 demands were initially presented. There were 10 total demands. Nine were demands from the letter sent in 2020 and one new demand was added for the Call to Action.
President Houshmand, Provost Lowman, and many senior administrators were in attendance, along with representatives from Rowan and Glassboro Police Departments and the SGA EBoard. Each demand was presented by a BSU member and subsequently addressed by a Rowan administrator. The two-hour long event also gave current students the opportunity to express additional concerns to university leadership. As a follow up to the event, the BSU Eboard is already planning meetings with Rowan and Glassboro Police Departments as well as DEI Council representatives. This dialogue will continue through the year as the BSU works with the student body and university leadership to make Rowan a better and more inclusive place for Black and Brown communities on campus.
The BSU demands include:
1. Hold Racist Actions and Remarks Made By Any Students and Faculty Accountable
2. More racial diversity in faculty, staff, and administration.
3. Racism and Discrimination Training for Staff
4. Reallocation of Student Government Association (SGA) funds to student organizations that promote racial diversity and inclusion
5. Support safe space for students of color on campus
6. Cease the harassment of Black students’ activities
7. Demilitarization of police
8. Additional de-escalation training
9. Set up monthly meetings with police
10. Have All Students Take a Course Pertaining to the Black Diaspora
Jamar Green, BSU Vice - President shared:
"Our goal was to address the demands to administrators, faculty and staff and get responses from them in regards to the demands that we sent to them. With the help of our wonderful advisor, Dr. Kha' Sadler, we were able to put together this event and we had great support from her as well as the Rowan leaders who responded to the ten demands. After the event concluded, there was a lot of positive feedback. The BSU Eboard is currently in the works of planning meetings with Rowan and Glassboro Police Departments, and we are continuing to work on making Rowan a better place for the Black and Brown communities and bring the both police departments and the Black student body on campus closer together."
The Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion alongside Rowan University administrative leadership, faculty and staff will strive to continue to take action to make Rowan University a more diverse, equitable and inclusive campus. Many thanks to the students who hosted the meeting and shared their concerns.