RJ Wolcott

Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING – Whiteboards will be banished from dorm room doors at Michigan State University beginning this fall because they’ve increasingly become platforms for harassment, according to university officials.

“The functionality of whiteboards used to outweigh the downsides,” said Kat Cooper, spokeswoman for Residential and Hospitality Services. “That’s not happening anymore.”

Today’s students keep in touch through social media or texting, Cooper said, leaving whiteboards with open space for quickly scrawled harassment in the form of offensive language or images.

Yamani Vinson, a junior who lives in Akers Hall, called the ban “foolish.”

“People can write racist words on anything,” Vinson said. “A brick wall, a tree, or even a person’s body. Are we supposed to get rid of those things too?”

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Cooper acknowledged that getting rid of whiteboards doesn’t address the underlying issues. She noted that MSU requires new students to go through training on cultural sensitivity and inclusiveness. The university also has an anti-discrimination policy.

Staff, including resident assistants inside buildings, file reports with MSU’s Office of Institutional Equity when they come upon offensive language on whiteboards. That office investigates the issues when reported, through the people who write the offending words or images are rarely identified.

“Any student found in violation of the university’s Anti-Discrimination Policy can face sanctions ranging from a warning to suspension,” Ande Durojaiye, director of Office of Institutional Equity, wrote in an e-mail.

The ban only covers whiteboards placed outside dorm rooms. Students will still be able to keep them inside their rooms.

Two years ago, when Aaron Stephens was a freshman living in Holmes Hall, someone carved a racial slur against people from the Middle East into his door. Not that he’s from there. His parents immigrated to the United States from Armenia and India.

He favors MSU taking proactive steps to limit harassment, he said, but there’s more to doing that than whiteboards.

“The bigger issue is the fact that someone that’s part of our community would feel the need to use hateful language in the first place. That needs to be addressed further,” Stephens said.

Vinson, a member of MSU’s Black Student Alliance, believes additional sensitivity and cultural training is a more effective way of addressing harassment and bias.

“It’s easy to take away whiteboards,” she said. “Actually working towards graduating students who understand the importance of diversity is the only way we can effectively address bias.”

Contact RJ Wolcott at (517) 377-1026 or rwolcott@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @wolcottr.