The Request of the Black Students at Towson University, 2015

The Request of the Black Students at Towson University SGA Takeover : November 17. 2015 @, 5 PM - Loch Raven We, the black students of Towson University, come with burdened bodies to your door steps. We come as living testament to the narratives shared on November 11th, where with tears and rage, we stood together and publicly revealed the oppressive occurrences that we experience on the daily as black students of this institution. Among these have included: egg shells and racial slurs being thrown out of windows; racial slurs being shouted at house parties; sexual and racial epithets from classroom professors; lack of representation in black faculty on the tenure track; lack of cultural competency in our peers and professors; the discontinuation of the Towson Debate Team; etc, etc. We are gathered here today to make known and make clear that Towson University has failed at providing a safe space for the black students at this University. We are gathered today to force the hand of an administration, whose checks are signed with the money from our tuition, towards a more critical, honest, and inclusive campus for all Towson University Students. We are gathered here today to request sincere and swift institutional changes. Among these are: 1. Increasing the black faculty on tenure-track by 16% by 2018. a. Fall 2018 2. Require ALL faculty and staff to take at least one cultural competency course every semester led by at least one person in the Center of Student Diversity office. a. Fall 2016 3. Require 1FC Fraternities and Pan-Hellenic Sororities to have a Diversity Chair who will promote diversity within their respective organizations and interact with multicultural organizations on campus. a. Spring 2016 4. Reallocate and Redistribute funds given to white fraternities, sororities, and organizations more equally to black fraternities, sororities, and organizations. a. Spring 2016 5. Require the SGA to maintain harmonious communication with the Diverse Organizations and their leaders on campus through physical contact, wherein bills and policies that will effect the black student body will be made known and aware to them. a. ASAP /Fall 2015 6. Require the Diverse Focus Forum and other top-level diversity institutions to have at minimum one person of color on their board. White women should not be given positions to speak on behalf of what it is black students want from their university. a. Fall 2016 7. Require the College Promotion and Tenure Committee and other major University committees (admissions, graduate studies, etc) to have a person of color on the committee when deciding who will and will not receive tenure. a. Spring 2016 8. Require the Director Positions in the SGA to be elected by the people of this university instead of appointed, hired, and/or interviewed by the President. The Diversity Chair is a direct