“Campus climate and issues of race and equity are of primary importance to me,” Rue said.

She added that she wished that some of the recent incidents, which many people on campus have called racist, hadn’t happened. Rue said she wasn’t surprised because those incidents are linked to the university’s history.

“For me, this is an appropriate moment for us to be really reckoning with that history and trying to think what it means for us moving forward,” Rue said.

A racist Instagram post on March 22 suggesting Wake Forest University build a wall to separate the institution from Winston-Salem State University sparked anger and concern on both campuses. Wake Forest University officials condemned the post and said they are investigating the source.

At the forum, two WSSU students, Jasanna Quaye and De’Naija Sims-Wilsner, said they were offended by the Instagram post, but they were pleased that some Wake students spoke out against it.

In February, Wake Forest University acknowledged racist images of students in blackface that were published in past yearbooks. Days later, photographs of Wake Forest students posing in photographs with the Confederate flag were revealed. Two of those students are currently WFU administrators.