On June 5th 2020, Students United sent the following letter to Chancellor Malhotra and President Hensrud, President Arthur, President Davenport, President Blackhurst, President Wacker, President Jayasuriya, and President Olson.
Students United has reviewed the statements from university and system leaders in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. We feel a responsibility to ensure our leaders know what acting and reflecting on these sentiments must look like.
The reason our organization exists—with staff and with an all-student Board of Directors—is because all students do not have an equal, just, or accessible higher education experience. When that is achieved, we will not need to exist. By paying people to advocate, consolidating resources, and unifying student voices, we bring the power of all students together. The more power an individual, an organization, a system, or an institution has, the greater a responsibility it has. Thus, it is our responsibility to ensure our advocacy meets the needs of all students. As presidents and leaders of our institutions, your responsibility is to build institutions that meet the needs of all students.
What could our institutions be doing to build a world where Black lives finally matter and these statements reflect our actions?
Let us relay just some of what our students, especially our Black students and other students of color, have already told us and told you for years. Whether or not Students United’s Board of Directors has adopted these as official stances of our organization, we felt it important to share what we have heard directly from the students most effected and most harmed:
Minnesota State must include evaluating policing and campus safety a part of all upcoming equity work, including the equity scorecard, campus climate, the equity by design efforts, and the larger work of Equity 2030.
Our public safety offices on campuses must be redesigned to center compassion, harm and violence reduction, equity, intervention, and restorative justice. This also must include investment in local and/or campus intervention and community safety systems.
Institutions must develop a bias response and action protocol.
Minnesota State must be reviewing and enforcing institutions’ compliance of system policies related to conduct and nondiscrimination and provide a means for reporting noncompliance or violations of systemwide policies by campus leadership.
All campus and campus-affiliated personnel must develop safety plans that reduce reliance on police and armed personnel and exhaust all other community safety and intervention options. This is especially critical in student activities spaces and in housing.
There must be widespread education, curriculum, and training for all faculty, students, and staff designed to elevate a comprehensive understanding of history, the way racism and discrimination exist and present themselves now, resisting bias, and more.
All Minnesota State law enforcement, criminal justice, social work, and/or related programs must invest in equity, restorative justice, anti-bias, social justice, and trauma-informed mandatory curriculum and training.
All institutions and the system must commit to the real work of recruiting and retaining faculty of color, including investments in compensation for their unacknowledged equity labor.
All institutions and the system must evaluate their contracts, partnerships, and investments, divest from those enabling harm and violence, and actively invest into our communities. This must include city and county police contracts and partnerships.
All institutions and the system must fully fund, and make accessible, safe spaces and resource centers for all marginalized and oppressed student communities.
None of this is new. But time is beyond up to get it done. Students United’s staff is here to assist you in executing these goals immediately and we caution relying too heavily or directly on the uncompensated labor of students, especially Black students, who have already done far more than they should have ever had to. Tell us what (and who) are your barriers. Tell us what you understand and where you still have questions. Tell us what tools and resources you need.
We assure you that we do not need a ten-year commission, a five-year plan, a task force or working group. Every listening session and forum has been done. All the evidence, data, reports, and resources already exist. All the testimony, stories, and experiences have already been shared. It is past time to do it. We are here to help.