Boulder – Frustration over incidents of racism reached a passionate pitch Tuesday, as 400 University of Colorado students marched on campus to demand the university do more to promote acceptance of others.
“This is the start of the new CU,” junior Adam Paluka yelled to the crowd gathered outside Regent Hall. “I am sick and tired of talk. I want action.”
The demonstration was part of a day of student-organized protests, news conferences and meetings calling on other students, administrators and the community to actively confront racially motivated hate.
Student government and student group leaders also announced a list of five demands of the CU administration. The list includes $5 million in additional scholarships for minorities, programs geared toward diversity and training for students and faculty.
“If these demands are not met, we will be forced to take alternative measures,” Kerry Kite said Tuesday night at a gathering of about 200 students. Kite is a co-founder of Shoulder 2 Shoulder, a student group that promotes diversity.
Kite stre ssed that she was not threatening violence, but said, “It will be something you have never seen before. … Something you don’t want to see.”
The gatherings occurred a week after Mebraht “Mo” Gebre-Michael, a black CU student who is one of three elected heads of the student government, received a profane death threat. The incident followed a string of racially charged incidents since last spring that included graffiti, name-calling and an assault.
Many of the students outside Regent Hall wore T-shirts that said “I support Mo.”
“I don’t think you understand how much it overjoys my heart to see all the support that I am receiving,” Gebre-Michael told the crowd. “But please remember this is not about me. This has been going on for too long, and it is about time we stand up and let our voices be heard.”
The students were joined by vice chancellor for student affairs Ron Stump, who said he also was angry at the racist acts.
“I get tired and frustrated by the acts that happen on our campus,” he said. “We work very hard to bring about change and do things that are going to make this campus more welcoming.”
Stump was particularly frustrated that a white-supremacist group was able to spread derogatory fliers on campus Monday.
“How is it that they can exist,” Stump said of the group. “Does anybody take them to task for what they have done? Why is it that they can infringe upon us and cause havoc and hatred on our campus without anybody going back to them and saying, ‘You may have freedom of speech, but you don’t have freedom to hate us.”‘
Stump’s comments came just before he met with student members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, student government and Shoulder 2 Shoulder to discuss the list of student demands.
The campus has dealt with a stagnant enrollment of black students for more than a decade – an issue that compounded minority students’ frustrations when the racial incidents began.
On Tuesday, students who were rallying called for 40 representatives on a blue-ribbon commission on diversity, and a required, core class on diversity for incoming students.
The student leaders said Tuesday night that they will continue to press administrators until their demands are met – criteria that they believe are just a starting point.
“What we have heard from students is that things have to change,” Jeremy Jimenez, another of the three student-government leaders, said before the gathering.
“We want as many students of color to be at CU. But right now, honestly, I feel mixed emotions when I’m out recruiting because of the situation on campus.”
Staff writer George Merritt can be reached at 720-929-0893 or gmerritt@denverpost.com.
