YPSILANTI, MI - Eastern Michigan University's McKenny Hall Student Lounge is now decorated with figures and images from the community's past activism, its present and its future ambitions in the form of a mural unveiled Wednesday, Feb. 28.

The "Unity Mural," is a year-long collaborative effort intended to display a welcoming and diverse nature emblematic of the EMU community.

Steve Kwasny, an undergraduate student at EMU majoring in political science, organized a collaborative effort that conceived the idea in the wake of racist vandalism incidents that took place at EMU last fall. Scott Schlueter, a graphic design student at EMU, created the project, blending the many ideas received by project organizers.

The Unity Mural is composed of 6-foot by 20-inch Masonite sheets that were cut up at Home Depot. Organizers gave the sheets a white priming coat, and then sent them to Signarama, a custom sign, banner and decal designer in Clinton Township.

The shop converted Schlueter's photoshop submission into a digital outline, after which Kwasny and others color coded the work in pencil. More than 200 people participated in the actual painting process on Feb. 11.

The Unity Mural is intended to send a message about how the campus views itself during a time of social challenge and change, Kwasny said.

"Everything that is in (this mural) from our past activism, to our present, to our future ambitions, is here because someone advocated for it in a series of eight public forums," he said.

"The mural is a visual, artistic timeline that reflects the ways in which our EMU community historically holds true to our tradition of uniting in the face of adverse situations," he added.

Kwasny noted that the mural team had been working on the project since October of 2016, involving numerous students and staff members on EMU's campus, along with Ypsilanti community members as well as Ypsilanti Community Schools students, who were asked to draw their future vision of unity for the final section of the mural.

Dozens of volunteers worked in two-hour shifts to make the vision for the mural a reality, Kwasny said.

"Not only does this effort include the university, but it stretches out to the entire city of Ypsilanti - children from local schools participated in the input process and in painting day," Kwasny said. "The mural team wanted to be clear that the whole Ypsilanti community stands behind creating a welcome environment."

Diane Brinson-Days, a master's student in higher education student affairs at Eastern and an administrative secretary in The Honors College who serves as vice president of the EMU Black Faculty & Staff Association, marveled that all the efforts of the past year have resulted in such an exciting campus statement.

"We wanted to make sure to get input from everyone on campus and the Ypsilanti community, as well," she said. "We wanted to make sure that it represented everyone's ideas and thoughts about unity, especially following the graffiti incidents that happened on campus."

EMU sophomore Deven Kozinsky got involved in the mural effort through his fraternity with the intent of spreading the message of unity throughout campus.

"I think it really sends a strong message," he said. "It's really hard to miss when you walk in here. Hopefully it sends the message, not only to our campus but the community, that we're not going to stand for racism or discrimination."

Not all EMU students were happy with the mural, including EMU senior Faith Williams, who said community forums were not inclusive to student groups whose attitudes were deemed too negative.

"I look at this mural, an alleged response to anti-black, racist graffiti, and I can't even label it as passive resistance, because it isn't resistant at all, only passive," she said. "I look at the mural and know this is not for me. This mural is all for you self proclaimed well-meaning white savior allies who came to give yourself a pat on the back."

After several incidents of racist vandalism occurring during the 2016-17 school year, a suspect was arrested on Oct. 23, 2017. Eddie Curlin, 29, a former EMU student, was arraigned on three counts of malicious destruction of property, four counts of identity theft and one count of using computers to commit a crime.

Curlin, who is black, was arrested after EMU policed reviewed more than 1,200 hours of video from more than 100 campus cameras. EMU Police Chief Bob Heighes was quick to deny race was a motivating factor in the incidents. Curlin's case currently is in circuit court.