Students and community members held a silent protest at the Purdue University Board of Trustees meeting Thursday to raise attention to what they say is ongoing racism on campus.

The Purdue Anti-Racism Coalition, or PARC, brought a petition to the meeting that sets a list of demands to establish measures and safeguards to protect rights of minority students, including doubling minority enrollment and requiring a course about race and racism for all students.

PARC members say a Feb. 14 act of racial vandalism in Purdue’s Krannert School of Management’s main lobby was a flashpoint for many on campus. On Valentine’s Day, a memorial for Cornell Bell, a late Purdue faculty member, was defaced; someone used a marker to draw an X and write a racial slur over Bell’s photo.

During the Tuesday afternoon meeting at Stewart Center, about a dozen students and community members sat in seats and held signs printed with their requests. One person held a photo of Bell. After about 15 minutes they walked out silently while holding their fists in the air.

Shortly afterward, Trustee Don Thompson left the meeting to find the students. Thompson told them he respected their protest and would look into their concerns. He offered to be a liaison between the group with the trustees and President France Córdova.

“There are many ways to present what you feel, and I think you all did a very effective and powerful message, I really believe it,” Thompson said. Later, he added, “There is a way to get things done, especially when you got people who are listening. When people don’t listen, that is a whole other thing. But when they are, you take the opportunity to open up the door, walk in and sit with them.”

Thompson, a 1984 graduate and the only black trustee, said he understood the students’ frustration. Racial incidents happened when he was a student, he said, and administrators took appropriate action. Thompson said the forceful response to the Bell incident by Chris Earley, dean of Krannert School of Management, demonstrated that campus leaders are not afraid to discuss issues of discrimination.

“I would not sit on the board if I thought (the university) would do things that were racist, discriminatory or noninclusive of all people,” Thompson said. “We will get a chance to look at this and get you the right audience to address this.”

So far, 150 people have signed the petition, including various student group leaders, said Bill Mullen, a professor of English and American studies.

“We plan on working straight through into the fall, and we hope there will be a concerted response,” Mullen said. “We would like to work with the university to see change.”

The petition states Purdue “should not take a back seat when it comes to issues of equity and social justice. Instead Purdue must demonstrate institutional responsibility, and allocate resources accordingly.” It claims the incident of the Bell portrait was not isolated.

PARC member Jubin Rahatzad, a doctoral student, said he appreciated Thompson addressing the group.

“We see these incidents as a pattern, not just some bad apples,” Rahatzad said. “We want Purdue to be more inclusive. Demands on the petition are a starting point. Obviously the details are not hammered out, but the general areas are what we want to see happen.”

The petition asks the university to:

• Create a new anti-racism grievance committee and a universitywide anti-discrimination task force to monitor the overall conditions of racial equality on campus

• Double the university’s minority enrollment and percentage of minority faculty within 10 years and achieve parity with national minority representation (35 percent) within 20 years. Current minority undergraduate enrollment is 13.6 percent.

• Require first-year students to take a universitywide course on the history of race and racism in the United States, and for orientation of all students and employees to include discussion on discrimination.

http://www.jconline.com/article/20120510/NEWS/305100004/Purdue-anti-racism-coalition-stages-silent-protest-petitions-board-of-trustees?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE