Following the presidential election on Nov. 5, President Beck Taylor sent out an email to the student body addressing hateful speech from the previous night. The comments were racist remarks posted to the anonymous posting platform Fizz, targeted at the watch party in the University Center hosted by the Black Student Union (BSU).
President Beck Taylor and Provost Dave Cimbora quickly called a meeting with the BSU to address the ongoing situation.
The nature of this meeting saw a concerned President Beck Taylor and Cimbora express their apologies and open a forum for black students to relay their feelings to administration. Black Student Union member Ja’Cuary Colts, shared her experience during the meeting.
“Samford is an amazing school, but I was sold by Samford that everyone would be treated equally. While that does happen in some spaces at the school, it doesn’t happen online. It’s very disheartening. It does make me question my mental safety,” Colts said.
On the other hand, the Black Student highly commended the speed in which administration addressed the issue. Topics of change, more diversity sessions and overall methods to increase multicultural change were discussed between President Taylor and students present at the meeting.
“I do feel it was handled pretty well. I like that we were able to have that forum and how he sprung into action as quick as he could. The fact that he cared enough to hop in was admirable,” Colts said.
The Black Student Union executive board as well as some SGA members were also present at this forum. They were able to speak on behalf of the association and delve into some hard conversations that both President Taylor and Cimbora were ready to hear.
“I think he [President Taylor] handled it well. I’ve seen past administration sit there and lie to your face. But he was honest…It’s rare when presidents of any university, especially here, takes time out of their day and has that tough conversation,” said Prodige Tshibangu, SGA Freshman Class President.
Overall, the Black Student Union expressed concern in the influx of racist comments following the election, but are pleased that administration was able to handle the situation with grace.
“I know the Diversity office worked hard to get us here and I am finding beauty in that. Samford is so much more than this and there’s beauty in a lot of things here,” Colts said.
Tscibangu is also extremely pleased at the outcome of this meeting. He hopes to continue seeing a positive change from administration when situations like this arise.
“It was comforting because now to prospective black students, if situations like this happen again, there’s an administration team that actually cares about it. We need to do better as a student body. We’re adults and need to start acting like it,” said Tschibangu.
Samford administration is still investigating the alleged racist remarks.
Any students that experience race related discrimination can report it to the Title IX office. The office can be reached at titleix@samford.edu and 205-726-2764.
Staff Writer
