Upstander Spotlight: NFL player writes beautiful essay about acceptance
not on our campus
This month, students at Miami University are making the distinction between humor and discrimination. A student-created Twitter account called "Oxford Asians" attracted nearly 1,000 followers using language that some called "benign humor," while others found it a "form of cyber racial bullying."
In response, the university's Asian American Association turned the hurtful incident into an opportunity for learning by launching "The Real Oxford Asians," which rewrites offensive tweets, transforms them into positive messages and defies stereotypes. In this guest post, graduate student Suey Park discusses the impact of this atmosphere of intolerance and the need to speak up.
By Suey Park
Hate, Bullying and Intolerance: Not On Our Campus Five Ways to Move into Action
Not On Our Campus (NOOC) offers solutions-based strategies and tools for change to a network of colleges and universities working to create welcoming and inclusive climates. Change begins with these five steps. Go to niot.org/project/notonourcampus to find out what others campuses have done.
Vassar students stand up to hate group
Students at Vassar College have raised more than $84,000 for The Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBT youth, in response to a visit from a hate group.
According to college newspaper The Miscellany News, students started to organize their counterprotest immediately after hearing that the Westboro Baptist Church were planning to picket the college on Feb. 28. The fundraiser was intended to raise $4,500, $100 for every minute the hate group intended to picket the college. Instead, they raised twice that amount in under twelve hours.
Ole Miss Students Hold Vigil After Election Night Protests
Last week, University of Mississippi students stood up to another divisive protest. On Election Night, after the re-election of President Barack Obama, more than 400 students gathered to protest, yell racial epithets and burn an Obama campaign sign.
Chancellor Dan Jones quickly denounced the protests, saying students and faculty of the university were “ashamed” of the actions of a few of their peers. The following day, student group One Mississippi gathered about 700 students at a candlelight vigil, where they read the university’s creed to “respect the dignity of each person.” It was the same counter tactic they used when the Ku Klux Klan protested in support of the controversial chant—“the South will rise again”—sung at university football games in 2009.
Check out video of the vigil on Vimeo.
Tune into this original Not In Our Town programming from our public media partners at Fronteras.
We asked you this question in October 2011: Does your community make you feel safe and included, or scared and marginalized?
The Fronteras: Changing America Desk has joined forces with Not in Our Town documentary producers to determine how hate affects communities throughout the Southwest and what people like you are doing about it.
Tune in to hear these stories on KJZZ at 6:30 and 8:30 a.m. during Morning Edition
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Hazing: any action, taken or situation created intentionally that causes embarrassment, harassment or ridicule, risks emotional or physical harm, to members of an organization or team, whether new or not, regardless of the person's willingness to participate.
The Alpha Theta Phi sorority at the University of Redlands is breaking new ground. In October, the students held a Not On Our Campus week to bring awareness to hazing, pledging to stop the hurtful—and sometimes fatal—practice on university campuses.
Earlier in the year, university and sorority alumnna Lauri Massari stepped forward to conduct an anti-hazing training, as a service to the Office of Student Life. But she took it one step further, offering a $500 scholarship to conduct a Not On Our Campus week of activities, the first of its kind at the university.
"This has not been an easy task for these young women because fraternity and sorority traditions at the University of Redlands are 100 years in the making and do not readily embrace the changes required in eliminating hazing," Massari said.
At the University of Mississippi, a segregationist chant and Ku Klux Klan rally threaten to divide the campus community, but student leaders and their chancellor take a stand against hate and intolerance. This story is part of the Not In Our Town program, Class Actions, that aired on PBS stations in February 2012. Many conflicts over the legacy of slavery and the Confederacy have occurred since this program was produced. This story profiles action led by students and supported by the University's Chancellor to involve the whole campus in standing up to racism and hate.
A chant with a racist history
Our original Not In Our Town film sparked a movement and citizens across the United States came together to stop hate in their respective communities. For some this meant unifying their towns and for some it meant unifying their campuses.
On this page you'll find a small sampling of some of these student-created programs that have been implemented on other campuses. With these examples to guide you, join colleges across the country that are saying Not In Our House, Not In Our Hall, and Not On Our Campus.
Examples of Action:
Photo: Univ. of Cali., Santa Barbara's students sport Not In Our Hall t-shirts at a school event.