bipoc

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: RE: ‘In 2017, Pres. Pollack Responded to Racist Incidents on Cornell’s Campus With a Task Force. Did It Change Campus Climate?’

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We, as former members of the Presidential Task Force on Campus Climate, write this statement with pained hearts as horrifying events unfold at our alma mater, and not for the first time. In the fall semester of 2017, several hate crimes took place on and off campus, prompting us to improve campus climate. We did not expect to be here three years since those events. President Martha Pollack appointed members of the Task Force to identify goals, strategies and values that would lend the university guideposts for how to respond ethically and effectively the next time racism would rear its ugly head. 

The administration has avoided taking direct actions in response to the “Racist, Misogynistic Harassment Strikes Cornell S.A. Members After Disarmament Resolution,” and this has dashed the last of any lingering hopes we had. We want to remind the Cornell administration that our work was not performative, perfunctory or superficial.

Opinion

DELGADO | CoD: Call Off Discrimination

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But still, there is more we can do. No matter where you are — whether playing video games, on campus or elsewhere — you’ll encounter racist incidents like this. It starts with us calling them out and no longer tolerating racist remarks wherever we come upon them, whether behind screens or to your face.