Racism concerns remain at Mount Allison University, group says

A group of students at Mount Allison University say racism on campus is common and the administration hasn't done enough to deal with it.

Maureen Adegbidi, a member of the group Black Students for Advocacy, Awareness and Togetherness (BSAAT), says hearing racist comments is common in Sackville.

"Comments about watermelon, fried chicken, about hip hop, about rap," she says.

She says the most blatant incident was at a Halloween party where a group of students dressed up as the Jamaican bobsled team at a campus party, two of them in black face.

Members of BSAAT complained, and the administration says it did force the students involved to take part in sensitivity training and asked them to write a letter of apology for the student newspaper.

The original letter of apology read in part, "In no means did we try to offend anyone with our costumes and we apologize for any conflicts this has caused."

It went on to say, "The choice made to blacken our face was very inappropriate and we understand why this may have caused an issue for society's and members of this university. We have learned from our actions and will not repeat these actions. Thank-you."

Dia Minors, another member of the advocacy group, said BSAAT found the letter of apology poorly written and felt it put the blame on their group for complaining, so members rewrote it before it was published in the school paper.

"The original apology they were going to send us was full of errors, it also said, 'Thank-you,' instead of 'I'm sorry'. It was just an apology that wasn't well written."

Black face not only racist incident

Last week at a hip-hop themed campus party, the walls were decorated with painted black figures with photographs of faces of famous African Americans, such as Kanye West, glued on.

Adegbidi says the group again complained to the administration but felt their concerns were dismissed.

"It's their job to make sure all students here feel welcome and safe and feel like they belong here," she said.

"I love this community but sometimes I don't feel like the community loves me the same way."

Adegbidi also has dozens of examples of racist messages that have been sent through the app Yik Yak which allows people to send anonymous messages to other users within a 16-kilometre radius.

One reads in part, "Get a grip and don't make every comment made appear racist, sexist or whatever else you think is rude."

Mount Allison needs to do more

Laurin Davis, another member of the advocacy group, says not enough is being done to ensure racism is dealt with at the university.

“I just want people to know that if you do racist things or inappropriate things — sexual harassment or homophobic, anything — you will be punished at Mount Alison University,” Davis said.

“You will be punished, you will suffer some sort of serious consequence.”

Davis says that's not happening at Mount Allison University.

The BSAAT students say the school needs a complete cultural shift to address issues of race and respect.

Ron Byrne, the vice-president of international and student affairs at Mount Allison University, said the university is quick to respond to any incidents and racism is not tolerated.

“Certainly we do everything we believe we can to respond,” Byrne said.

“But at the end of the day, if there's more that we can be doing, if there's more that we should be doing, if we're not communicating as effectively as students would like us to then I strongly encourage students to let us know.”