Washington University senior administrators said they are not doing enough to combat racism on campus or in the St. Louis region, according to a recent letter responding to a student group’s demands for more equality.
The Students in Solidarity’s demands included increasing minority faculty, establishing more training for campus police officers, and including affordable housing as part of neighborhood renovations in Forest Park Southeast.
The student organization – which has chapters at five local universities – formed after Michael Brown Jr.’s shooting death on August 9 and seeks “systematic changes in the political and economic systems that failed Mike Brown, the Ferguson community and people of color everywhere.”
In their response, administrators acknowledged that racism exists on campus and that they bear “the responsibility for the fact that these incidents continue to occur.” Chancellor Mark Wrighton said that Wash. U. accepts that they have not done enough to address the problem. “As a regional leader and one of the region’s largest employers, by not more aggressively diversifying our own campus and medical center, we have left much work undone,” the response letter stated.
The St. Louis American interviewed Holden Thorp, provost and executive vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, about the university’s role in addressing the Ferguson unrest and the region’s systemic issues.
“Washington University can’t be successful unless St. Louis is successful,” Thorp said. “It’s something we have to evaluate in terms of where we can contribute and where we can make a difference. The first way is in diversifying our whole environment and making sure that we represent St. Louis and America the best we can. And we haven’t done that well enough.”
Across all campuses, under-represented minorities represent 6 percent of the faculty – with 3.1 percent being African-American. On the Danforth Campus, faculty numbers are slightly higher, with 8.1 percent being minority and 4.2 percent African-American. The numbers are lowest on the medical school campus, with 4.9 percent bring minority and 2.5 percent African-American.
Since Adrienne Davis was appointed as vice provost responsible for diversity four years ago, the Danforth Campus has increased the number of black faculty by 50 percent, according to the response letter. It also states that they tripled the number of senior black administrators from three to nine.
“It’s still unacceptably low, but we’ve made some impressive gains the last two years,” Thorp said.
Since the administrators responded to students on February 9, Thorp said the university has issued a request for proposals for a real-estate project involving 85 properties in Forest Park Southeast. And in the RPF, it indicated that 20 percent of those unites would be affordable housing.
“The students made a very timely request,” Thorp said. “To be fair, we were working on that.”
However, the students had demanded that the university develop that land to be at least 50 percent affordable housing.
The students also demanded that the university incentivize community-based participatory research on the St. Louis region that benefits the local community.
In response, the administrators stated the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Students will commit to 12 $3,000 summer internships to pair with faculty research in the community. They also committed to providing $100,000 per year for the next five years to Wash. U. social work professor Jason Q. Purnell’s “For Sake of All” project, a multidisciplinary study on health and wellbeing among African Americans in St. Louis. Its main funding comes from the Missouri Foundation for Health.
Hank Webber, executive vice chancellor for administration, said the university doesn’t set formal percentage goals for supplier diversity.
In 2014, the university spent $66 million with minority and women-owned businesses. That was 11 percent of the $582 million it spent on non-compensation goods and services, including construction but not including items like utilities where choosing minority businesses is not an option.
Overall, Thorp said the students’ demands have pushed the university in the right direction.
“Many of the demands are aspirational,” Thorp said, “and a great way to guide our strategy to open Wash. U. up to the people who want to be here and open up to this great American city that we call our home.”
Follow this reporter on Twitter @rebeccarivas.
Read the administration’s entire response to the students here. University Response.Students in Solidarity.FINA.pdf
Read the Student in Solidarity’s demands to the administrators here. (https://stlstudentsinsolidarity.wordpress.com/2015/01/23/demands-to-the-senior-administration-of-washington-university-in-st-louis/)
