Playback of live stream
President Jeffrey Armstrong, the Office of University Diversity & Inclusion (OUDI) and Student Affairs held a student forum in Harmon Hall in the Performing Arts Center (PAC) regarding the recent racially insensitive incident involving Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity members. Students turned out to voice their opinions to Armstrong, Vice President for Student Affairs Keith Humphrey and OUDI Associate Faculty Director Denise Isom.
The following are Mustang News’ live updates of the forum on Twitter:
“As we have learned this weekend, this is now part of who we are,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Keith Humphrey in his opening address.
— Mustang News (@CPMustangNews) April 13, 2018
President Armstrong says he was unaware that some deans of colleges had not addressed the incident via email, but that doing so wouldn’t have stopped the incident from happening.
— Mustang News (@CPMustangNews) April 13, 2018
Student voices: “By not expelling Tyler Watkins, Cal Poly has told every person of color that they do not matter as much as one white student.”
— Mustang News (@CPMustangNews) April 13, 2018
“Over the last 15 years, the Supreme Court has protected and protected hate speech. That’s the world that public universities live under. It is a legal issue,” said Armstrong.
— Mustang News (@CPMustangNews) April 13, 2018
A student asked how important the donors from Greek life are to the university. Armstrong replied that he would never let a donation interfere with what he felt was right for student success.
— Mustang News (@CPMustangNews) April 13, 2018
“Here, it is a relentless whiteness … It is a pain and a disassociation. Money is not going to solve all of our problems,” said Denise Isom, Associate Faculty Director for OUDI.
— Mustang News (@CPMustangNews) April 13, 2018
Student voices: “I called my mom to tell her I was coming to this forum, and the first thing she told me was that I should stay safe and not go. That says a lot about our climate here.”
— Mustang News (@CPMustangNews) April 13, 2018
“Because something happens doesn’t mean I don’t care,” said Armstrong. “The last thing we will do is sweep something under the rug.”
— Mustang News (@CPMustangNews) April 13, 2018
Students bring up cases at other universities where students involved with hate speech were expelled. Armstrong says we have a different set of facts, and that it is illegal for him to expel a student without due process.
— Mustang News (@CPMustangNews) April 13, 2018
Many students walk out and call for Armstrong to resign.
— Mustang News (@CPMustangNews) April 13, 2018
A fact sheet was passed out by students in the audience. pic.twitter.com/BQNh7U8q1r
— Mustang News (@CPMustangNews) April 13, 2018
“Although many of you won’t believe me, every staff person, faculty person, and administration person in the room feels this pain,” said Isom in closing remarks. “Nobody wants to be here. This was not about fulfilling a political check.”
— Mustang News (@CPMustangNews) April 13, 2018