Second Vice President of the Black Graduate Student Organization Justin Dunnavant said the email answered the organization’s request to provide the Student Body with a statement describing the incident and the university’s response to it.
“I think it is definitely a step in the right direction and we are looking forward to working together in the near future,” said the 24-year-old third-year anthropology graduate student.
Dunnavant said part of the email’s language is vague; however, he understood that some of the actions they requested from the university are long-term projects. These included competency training for general undergraduate curriculum and an addendum to the university code of conduct to define blackface as hate speech.
Machen wrote that while hate speech can be hurtful and offensive, it is protected speech.
“Tolerance and acceptance of differences are fundamental to an institution of higher learning and as we become more diverse we must redouble our efforts to understand each other,” he wrote.
Contact Samantha Shavell at sshavell@alligator.org.
