Let’s stop being neutral EC

The Leader

Recently, a sticker supporting a Neo-Nazi hate group was found on campus. Our safety is compromised, and this incident might not be the first or last time hate groups have had a presence on campus. 

After The Leader received a tip and published a breaking news story, President VanAken sent an email describing what happened, and that the school does not condone hate.

Simply responding to hate with an email is not enough. In order to stop hate on campus, the campus needs to be proactive not reactive. While bias incident response teams have value, the only way to end hate is to create a culture where hate cannot exist. 

 Outside of just saying they denounce hate, what has Elmhurst College actually done in order to prevent hate on campus? It has been nearly a month since the incident, and even after it has happened, what can we say has changed?

As of now, only one department, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, which is lead by one woman, is tasked with addressing all issues related to inclusion. It also appears that many of the resources and spaces on campus reserved for marginalized students are student lead or were student initiated such as the cultural identity groups or the True Colors Community. 

We acknowledge that these issues are complicated, and that EC cannot singlehandedly end racism and white supremacy, but compared to other institutions, EC is not making the effort it could be.

When students proposed a straight pride parade in Boston, Emerson College’s president Lee Pelton sent an email to the student body naming this event a “perversion” and called out the organizers as fearful and ignorant. The school then released a safety plan for the day of the event so LGBTQ+ students could feel protected. 

Emerson named the issue for what it is, something we did too, but they did it before it happened. In being proactive, they also created spaces for students to feel safe before they could have been hurt. 

When the Bias Incident Response Team (BIRT) responded to the campus, they offered no additional information on the hate sticker incident other than what The Leader and President VanAken had already disclosed. 

VanAken’s email said BIRT was formed to “address suspected incidents of bias or hate on campus” but BIRT’s email simply summarized the incident, that the sticker was removed, and how to report future incidents. After a month, we have yet to receive any follow up with what action will be taken to prevent future issues.  

There is hardly a response, and certainly no action plan. How can students feel safe when EC is doing a poor job acting against hate? Who is to say this will not happen again? 

EC for the past few years has consistently remains neutral until students demand a response, and at that point it is almost always too late. Students have complained about the seemingly passive or reactionary emails to local and national issues from EC and VanAken himself. 

This campus has a responsibility to create a climate where hate is not tolerated and does not wait until it is too late to take a stand. Whoever placed Neo-Nazi sticker was not deterred by the culture at EC indicating that we have not done enough to make it clear that this is not okay. 

Being reactionary has rarely served to benefit anyone. Denouncing hate after the fact simply does not mean or do anything besides reemphasize the bare minimum.

If EC is to be an institution that “embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion”, then they simply need to prove it. A month has gone by, and this email is all the proof we have that this is true.