In recent weeks and months, higher education has been rocked by issues of race playing out on college campuses in ways that remind us that we are not “postracial” in this country or in institutions of higher learning. Our students are organizing in new ways, led by Black Student Unions across the country, to articulate the extent to which they experience anti-Blackness on college campuses. The term “anti-Blackness” might be unfamiliar to some, but it is increasingly used in the current political moment to describe a national climate that is hostile to Black people (both through stigmatization and lack of representation). For instance, activists in the #BlackLivesMatter movement use it to articulate the root of the disregard for the lives of Black people in some interactions with law enforcement or with the criminal justice system, in which people are brutalized without cause. Scholars also use the term to describe the long history of enslavement and its aftermath. Importantly, the term does not assume a racist intention on the part of individual actors but rather points out the power of a system that marginalizes.

BSUs have raised issues of inequitable learning environments, hostile interactions with faculty and peers, and the myriad ways Black students face microaggressions in their daily lives on campuses. As with other social movements historically, the political action of Black students on college campuses is deeply related to events nationally — most notably the #BlackLivesMatter protests in communities and on campuses to protest several high-profile killings of unarmed Black people at the hands of law enforcement.

Last week, like the rest of the country, I watched the events at the University of Missouri unfold. Their students, very much like my students on the Berkeley campus, were protesting a lack of full inclusion and anti-Black racism, and were arguing for much-needed resources for Black students. My heart broke to watch the students express the pain of the multiple ways they faced racism on campus, including a graduate student who launched a hunger strike. I watched with pride when student-athletes and their coach joined the protests and, like many, stood in near disbelief when the University of Missouri systemwide president, Tom Wolfe, stepped down. Soon after, then-chancellor R. Bowen Loftin also resigned. These resignations were not without controversy, and sadly, they sparked backlash at Mizzou, with Black students being threatened and terrorized on campus.

Students, again led by BSUs, at more than 20 universities across the nation protested in solidarity Wednesday, speaking out against the racism they experience on campuses and making demands that universities meet their needs and create less hostile climates for Black students. And the activism was not limited to issues on college campuses. Students at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, marched to the state capitol to demand the removal of the Mississippi Confederate Flag at a local park. At Princeton University, students sat in for more than 30 hours and demanded the removal of Woodrow Wilson’s name and image from public spaces on campus; Wilson, a former U.S. president, was also a prominent racial segregationist.

The events at Mizzou and the protests at college campuses, more broadly, are a reminder of the troubling realities our students face daily on our campuses and in the world. Students are not content to wait for slow institutional change sparked by goodwill. We are in the midst of a new social movement taking root on college campuses, led by BSUs, which are requiring universities to take notice and making demands that are pushing universities to make necessary and important changes. As campus administrators and as citizens of California, it is our job to take notice, to support them and to seize this moment to take issues of race on our campuses seriously.

For me, this means that we have to show a new kind of courage and forward-thinking action. That includes:

Recognizing that racism and anti-Blackness stem from dehumanization — the subtle perception that some lives are more valuable than others. We must listen to our students when they detail the ways they are made to feel less smart and less valued, and understand that ensuring the humanity of all of our students is our profound responsibility as a campus.

Being unafraid to confront the racism of our past — as a country and as institutions of higher education. We cannot pretend our history of slavery, segregation and exploitation did not exist, as not discussing it does not make it go away. In fact, refusing to acknowledge it prevents us from facing uncomfortable truths and perpetuates inequality, despite our best intentions. We have to be willing to disrupt tradition when that tradition involves upholding the legacy of slave owners and white supremacists.

Honoring and supporting the spaces on campus that have made our campuses more welcoming spaces: African American studies, ethnic studies and gender and women’s studies. These departments continue to offer us new ways of interrogating the institutions and paradigms that reproduce inequality in our society, and they provide counter discourse, which supports us in re-imagining new possibilities for equity as we move forward.

Educating our campus community about the reality that we live in a country where race (and gender, sexuality and disability status) still plays a significant role in how the world reacts to us and in the opportunities available to us. This is not rhetoric; it is supported by a large body of research. When that system works in one’s favor — that is, when one holds privilege — it is nearly impossible to see that privilege. Pointing out the consequences of these systems of privilege does not make students “over-sensitive”; it makes them courageous.

The events at Mizzou and other college campuses surrounding racial climate remind us that we must be ever vigilant and deeply committed to creating institutions that honor the full humanity and develop the full potential of all of our students. To do so, we must listen to our students, especially those who have been historically marginalized, when they are expressing their needs. We must see them as our partners and collaborators in improving our policies and our practices to ensure that they are in line with our deepest values.

Just this weekend, a UC Berkeley White Student Union page on Facebook emerged, with an excess of 1,000 posts in the first 24 hours. This was but one of several such sites purporting to be affiliated with universities. Although seemingly led by groups from outside the universities, these sites used remarkably similar language and made light of the work of student activists across the country to highlight issues of race and campus climate for students of color. Our vigilance is necessary in order to ensure that important narratives don’t get co-opted to create conflict and that outside organizations don’t use college campuses as a platform to wreak havoc and push a white-supremacist agenda.

So what does Mizzou mean for UC Berkeley? It underscores that the work we do together to address issues of race on college campuses will lead the nation; let’s lead in the right direction. I want to look back on this moment 20 years from now and know that as a campus, UC Berkeley led with courage and took bold steps to protect the humanity of all of our students.

Na’ilah Suad Nasir is the vice chancellor of equity and inclusion at UC Berkeley and a professor of education and African American studies.

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