10 ways colleges can stop campus racism

One black graduate student’s hunger strike at the University of Missouri last month has sparked a national movement to combat campus racism that won't back down without a fight.

From private schools to public institutions, students across the United States have joined the #ConcernedStudents1950 protests, which started at Mizzou. They're calling on college administrators to change current policies and address historical legacies that continue to create hostile learning environments for black students and others of color.

To date, students from 72 campuses have issued demands listing their grievances. Here are 10 of the most common points raised:

This demand is pretty straightforward. Although "diversity" has become a buzzword at colleges (and virtually everywhere else) across the U.S., how has it been defined? Diversity is more than including one or a handful of people from a specific demographic.

“We have been silenced, forgotten, heard and ignored,” a Tufts University student said at a college rally, according to campus newspaper Tufts Daily. Over nine years, from 2003 to 2012, the school's black undergraduate population at Tufts reportedly dropped by 3 percent.

It's not enough to enroll black students, though—colleges should also provide proper resources to ensure they make it to graduation, too.

According to a study by Indiana State University, black students are less likely to return to campus the second year, compared to their white counterparts: at 74.7 percent to 80.3 percent, respectively.

"All the research says when a person feels like he or she belongs, has a proper support, and their cultural identity is respected, the more likely they are to stay," Nzingah Dugas, director of University of California, Berkeley's African-American student development office, told the East Bay Express in 2013. "There are a few more things like financial resources, but those are the things that keep students here."

Allowing racism on campus undermines opportunities to show black students that their college is invested in having them there beyond move-in day.

Black students can also feel alienated when they don't see their racial background reflected in the faces of the faculty and administrative staff guiding their educational experiences.

“There’s a difference in the learning experience that you have when you’re learning form someone you believe you can identify with more closely,” Micah Oliver, president of the University at Buffalo's Black Student Association, told the Associated Press. "I feel like I can learn from you better because you seem like somebody I can connect with on a personal level or on an experiential level."

According to an AP review, the percentage of black faculty at many U.S. public universities was "close to or below" half the percentage of black students, especially at schools in the South with sizeable proportions of black faculty and students.

Demands for increased representation isn’t limited to college demographics—the same goes for knowledge being taught on campus. For this reason, protesters are asking for the creation or expansion of departments and majors in non-traditional fields, including queer studies, ethnic studies, and African-American Studies.

As the students at Northern Arizona University note in their demands, “Our history should not simply be an elective.”

Investing in the lives of students of color means investing in knowledge that has been produced by and for them.

Mental health has become a major issue on college campuses, as rates of anxiety and depression among students have increased, Psychology Today reported. But cultural differences mean that students of color need access to mental-health resources that fit their specific needs. For instance, one common difference between white students and their minority counterparts is that the latter more often experiences "impostor syndrome," or an overwhelming feeling that you're a fraud despite evidence to the contrary.

“I had concerns about calling attention to myself as a black student and not wanting to look like I couldn’t cut it,” Harvard alum Annelle B. Primm said at a mental-health gathering on campus in light of recent protests, according to The Harvard Crimson.

Campus resources should be available to reassure students that they're valued, if and when they believe otherwise.

It’s hard to feel like you’re genuinely part of a college community when you have to take classes and live in residential halls named after people who built legacies exploiting people like you.

“We recognized we can’t be complacent anymore,” Georgetown University student Queen Adesuyi told The Washington Post, after the school announced it would rename two buildings named after former college presidents involved in the slave trade. “The fact that the sale [of slaves] helped Georgetown to be the prestigious school it is now is an important part of our history that’s important to recognize. It’s a story not being told.”

Removing names doesn’t erase a college's racist past, but it does put its legacy into context, demonstrating that violent histories should never be overlooked.

As tuition rises, black students are more likely to take on more debt than their white counterparts, according to a study conducted by public-policy organization Demos.

"Many black students must work two to three jobs in order to pay for the continuing rising costs of education," the Afrikan Student Union at the University of California, Los Angeles, wrote in their demands. "Funding is one of the reasons why many black students do not apply to UCLA, and also a hindrance to many that are accepted."

"For a university that is as 'diverse' as UCLA, something must be done to make sure that black students are financially secure."

Existing racial wealth gaps can exacerbate student debt, which is why financial assistance is a widespread concern.

Colleges don't only perpetuate racism on campus, but off, too. Protesters are calling for universities to cut ties with corporations that are involved in private prisons and have a questionable record on labor practices, among other issues.

"We demand the university stop contracting with Aramark and all other corporate entities," University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill​ protesters wrote in their demands. "Aramark is a corporation deeply invested in the expansion of the prison industrial complex (PIC), and hence massively growing prison economy, which is targeted at criminalizing and caging working-class black people."

The U.S. is the global leader in incarceration. Although it makes up 4 percent of the world's population, the country contains 22 percent of the global prison population, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies. What's more, mandatory minimum sentences and similarly strict policies have disproportionately affected African-Americans.

Neither people nor oppression are one dimensional. Current student demonstrations are intentionally intersectional, addressing racism while also fighting against campus misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia. Protesters are demanding that their colleges better facilitate communication between groups, and also address concerns that extend beyond racism.

As Jonathan Butler, the University of Missouri student who went on a hunger strike, wrote:

Cultural competence, according to the National Education Association, refers to having the skills to recognize and understand cultural differences of people with different backgrounds than your own.

Protesters are demanding that students, faculty, administrators, and campus police be required to undergo cultural-competency training, including in the form of semester-long classes.

For their part, Princeton University student protesters asked that training include "the true role of freedom of speech and freedom of intellectual thought in a way that does not reinforce anti-blackness and xenophobia."