About 450 people, including faculty, administration and students, met for a town hall meeting Thursday to discuss last week’s incident involving two Beta Theta Pi brothers who wore blackface makeup to a social.
UF professor of African-American studies Patricia Hilliard-Nunn presented the history of blackface. She said it originated in Europe in the 1600s to mimic African people and was eventually popularized in American radio, print and film. She said actors exaggerated African-American features and placed them in roles as musicians and dancers for comic relief.
“They were copying that culture and exploiting it for financial gain,” Hilliard-Nunn said.
After her presentation, students expressed their opinions and proposed ideas to solve cultural issues at UF.
Leonard Thompson, a member of the currently suspended Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, discussed his feelings about the lack of involvement the administration had in responding to the blackface incident. He said when his fraternity was suspended for hazing last year, an email was sent out to the entire Student Body about the issue. But so far, nothing has been sent out about this.
Association of Black Faculty and Staff President Sharon M. Burney said faculty members from all around campus have come up to talk to her about racist incidents that have happened at the university.
“This is just the beginning,” she said. “We need to have these dialogues because you have a perfect storm, and it’s now erupting.”
Justin Hosbey, the first vice president of the Black Graduate Student Organization, reiterated the five recommendations he presented to the Student Senate on Tuesday.
The recommendations included an official statement describing the event and the university’s response to it, a formal apology from the students who were in the picture wearing blackface, a cultural competency training program for all Greek organizations and as part of the general undergraduate education curriculum and an addendum to the university code of conduct to define blackface as hate speech.
Beta Theta Pi president Ethan McMahon said ignorance is not an excuse for the offensive act.
“We want to be a part of the process to find a solution,” he said.
Vice President for Student Affairs Dave Kratzer addressed everyone in attendance. He said the next step is devising a way to take the ideas expressed at the meeting and put them into effect.
Although UF President Bernie Machen was not in attendance, his assistant Jamal Sowell spoke.
“This conversation has to keep going,” he said. “Your voice has to be heard, but it can’t be stopped.”
Contact Samantha Shavell at sshavell@alligator.org.
