By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
A group marched across the Fort Hays State University campus Thursday night to a Student Senate meeting to call for the college to better address issues of racism and inequality on campus.
"I want you to take a look behind me," said Demetrius Chance, leader of the march. "This is the voice of your marginalized students. We came together to say enough is enough. No longer will we stand in silence. No longer will we accept intolerable apprehension and anxiousness we feel being here at Fort Hays."
The group was made up of about 30 students and allies. Several students spoke to the Senate, addressing instances of racism and harassment that occurred on campus.
Chyler Backstrom, vice president of the Black Student Union and a Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science student from Kansas City, Kan., said she did not intend to return to FHSU next semester because she felt unsafe at the school.
She urged the school to better address minority student safety on campus.
Backstrom told the Senate her fellow students had made multiple racist comments to her during her time at FHSU.
Backstrom related an instance in which a fellow black student was walking to her residence hall at night after work. A pickup stopped next to her, a man inside called her a racial slur and drove away.
"Nothing was done," she said. "The only piece of mind we have is that it could have been worse. He could have physically assaulted you, or worse we could have never seen or heard from you again."
Backstrom related the story of another minority student who was bullied to the point that she refused to leave her student housing and now is studying online far from Hays.
"How are we a family if many of us ... look behind me ... live in fear? How can we leave our rooms or be OK to get lunch or go eat?" Backstrom said. "I have to live in fear of what might happen to me. I have to chalk it up to 'at least it wasn't worse.'
"As I finish up my speech, I just want you to think about what can we do better," she said. "We are supposed to be a family, but we're not acting like it."
Danzel Major, president of the FHSU Black Student Union and a graduate student in psychology, also spoke to the Senate.
"One thing I have realized about this campus and this community is that no one listens," Major said. "When we say something that is happening to us that is negative, no one listens. Everyone is, 'Eh, well, that happens to everyone. Get over it.' For a lot of us students, we feel not heard."
Major said he the march Thursday night was an indication the college can make a cultural change.
"At the end of the day, if any of you have children who are biracial or part of the LGBT community or who are not a part of the normative group," Major said, "would you want your children to experience the things we've experienced ... that we have to be quiet about because if we talk we get in more trouble than the people who are doing the offensive things?"
Chance urged fellow students to report instances of racism or discrimination on campus to the administration.
Chance read a letter from an anonymous student about alleged racial discrimination and use of racial slurs he experienced as a member of the FHSU chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
"During my tenure as a member, the chapter condoned racially derogatory language and other racially offensive stories and terms against people of the same ethnic background as I," the letter read.
He said in the letter he felt the chapter had "lost its way."
The Hays Post interviewed the student, who is no longer a member of the fraternity, after the march. He said he had been in contact with the national leadership of the fraternity and the also forwarded a letter about the racial issues to the college administration.
The student said the fraternity leadership told him they could do nothing to assist him. He said he was told the FHSU administration has been investigating the allegations.
A telephone message was left with the local chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity Friday. That call was not returned as of the posting of this story.
"This is a demonstration of unity," Chance said of the march. "We're coming because we want to work with the university and with administration to change the culture, so I don't want anyone one to misconstrue that we are pointing fingers."
Scott Cason, FHSU chief communications officer, told the Hays Post Friday school administration will be meeting Monday to discuss next steps to address the students' concerns.
Student Senator Chris Crawford spoke to the Student Senate after the marchers' presentations and said he also has been a victim of racism on campus.
He suggested a position be created within student government to represent marginalized students on campus. This could include students of racial and ethnic minorities, students of the LGBTQ community, non-traditional students and international students.
"To reach our potential as a Senate and move as one unit, we must empathize with each other and understand our different experiences," Crawford said.