By Charly Buchanan

Reporter

While our society is steadily advancing toward equality, there is still a great deal of progress to be made involving college race relations.

Racism is still relevant. In fact, it is a prevalent issue a few hours from us at the University of Missouri. Recent disgusting racist acts at the University of Missouri, including a swastika drawn in feces in a campus bathroom and the intense usage of racial slurs toward African American students have made it abundantly clear that discrimination toward minorities is not going to simply fizzle out while we stand idly by and hope for it to end. It is not, and will never be, enough for a college administration to take a mild stance against racism and those who condone it. Change will not come until there is a fervor running through those who have the power to influence the minds of young adults seeking higher education – a fervor for the eradication of a mindset that has such a limited capacity that it sees racism as acceptable.

It is not enough for student concerns to be met with silence, and it is surely not enough for a board of directors to appoint someone with such ignorance to perpetuate that silence. Slow reactions by the leaders of universities are putting us in a position to view them as negligent.

Unfortunately, racist acts and lax leadership are not confined to just our beloved Mizzou. According to the Huffington Post College, at Yale, more swastikas were drawn and African American women were denied entrance to a fraternity party purely because of the color of their skin, which led to more people opening up about their experiences with discrimination and feelings of physical and psychological un-safety. To those of you who believe that “It’s 2015, racism is over,” tell me this: have you ever had to worry about feeling unsafe because of your race? Have you ever had to worry about discrimination? Have you ever felt someone looked down upon you, or even was disgusted by you simply because of the color of your skin? If not, how dare you say racism is no longer an issue. How dare those of you like the former president of the University of Missouri,Tim Wolfe, who when asked what he believes systematic oppression is responded with “Systematic oppression is because you don’t believe you have the equal opportunity to success,” blame systematic oppression on those who are being oppressed.

This is not to say nothing is being done to help those being discriminated against. At Yale, as told by Huffington Post College, President Peter Salovey has laid out a series of steps the University will take, including launching conferences on issues of race, gender, inequality, and inclusion, giving training on combating racism to all members of the administration, adding faculty positions to represent the unrepresented, and drastically increasing funds that help expand diversity. This is possible for Yale because they have extensive funds.

College administrations must learn to listen because there are always voices in need of being heard.