Spring Hill College has been working to address the demands from students, faculty, and staff regarding the racist message that was graffitied on the side of New Hall last year on Oct. 26.
The crime shocked the community as a whole, which resulted in students, faculty, and staff coming together to make a plan to combat the hateful message on campus. The following day, a Blackout Event was held on Rydex to stand in solidarity on the racist crime committed. Members from the community, regardless of race, spoke on the issue at large and lifted each other up, discussing the change in culture that must be acted on. Hammy Hamilton, sophomore senator at the time, spoke up at the Blackout and continues to be an advocate for the well-being of the campus. “No amount of paint, and no amount of soap would wash away the context of that word. To speak at the event, I was nervous the whole entire time, but seeing people bond together in that moment and seeing students who are usually silent speak, it inspired me to speak. What everyone needed at that time was reassurance, and the college, to a certain extent, gave reassurance, but only enough. I feel as if there was no reassurance on the topic of education. There was more action in covering up the word than education on the verbage used.”
Quentin Brackenridge, one of the former founding advisors for the Black Student Union, helped create the list of demands to benefit all students on campus. “The demands created were a result of the racial graffiti that was placed on our campus building, however, it was a desire to see a more inclusive environment on the campus. I believe that the day that the incident happened, it was a complete shock to our community. It is an expectation and responsibility for the entire community to stand up and speak out against any type of racial injustice.”
One of the demands that had been met this year has been hiring an Associate Vice President for Culture Community as well as a Chief Diversity Officer. Dr. Vannee Cao-Nguyen joined Spring Hill’s campus in July 2023, and has been working behind the scenes in an attempt to better the college as a whole. The demand stated, “We demand the expeditious appointment of a Vice President of Diversity Equity and Inclusion by the preferred date of January 2023.” Since being hired, Cao-Nguyen stated that the college has not done a good job at addressing concerns. She stated, “We have not been, and this is being very transparent, we have not been good at enforcing it. So when someone comes up to you and tells you, “hey, this is happening to me,” we are not addressing it, and we need to. Our policies and procedures are there as a strong foundation for us to say we don’t tolerate this conduct or behavior.”
Cao-Nguyen is in the works of improving this standard for the SHC community. She stated, “Students have experienced administration not doing anything, so they feel as if they have to take it upon themselves, which then poses another challenge and problem for community members. We should be in the know, and we encourage students to be comfortable coming to us so we can properly address situations.” Brackenridge also stated, “Students, faculty, and staff should all have the responsibility of their actions and holding others accountable. If we see something, we need to say something. If we have concerns for areas, processes, or procedures that are not inclusive, we need to speak up on those issues.”
As far as the investigation, Chief Kevin Anderson stated that Public Safety has had some challenges closing the case. “Right now with the investigation, we have not been able to turn up any suspects. There were no cameras pointing in that area. With the lack of witnesses and the lack of evidence, we have not been able to determine who did it. The investigation is still open, if students have heard or seen anything, please take the issue to Public Safety. One issue that we have had is the lack of students wanting to come forward. Students are our best source of information and if they would share that with us, it would help us a lot.” Public Safety currently has 90 cameras on campus and are working on getting more.
President of BSU, Ray Taliaferro Jr. stated that the last he has heard regarding the investigation was last November, only two weeks after the incident took place. “We still haven’t heard anything. We just want to be updated as students and as a part of this community. When I take a look at this campus, I do want to thank Spring Hill for what they’ve done to promote some black members into higher positions and what they have done with the Chief Diversity Officer but that’s simply not enough.”
For student support regarding racial injustices, you can reach out to Cao-Nguyen at [email protected]. For any leads or questions regarding the investigation, you can contact Chief Anderson, 251-518-7671. To keep up with BSU, you can follow their Instagram @shcbsu.
