|
Profs: Stay away, minorities
There is a new twist in racism claims at SCSU, and this time it has come in the form of a letter to high school guidance counselors.
One former and two current SCSU professors recently sent letters to about 40 high schools in the state to advise guidance counselors to discourage students of color from attending SCSU due to the existence of racism on campus and in St. Cloud.
The professors wrote the letter Feb. 15, stating that its objective was to warn people that "residency in St. Cloud can be hazardous for Black people."
The letters were written by former professor Myrle Cooper, who retired in 1998, Michael Davis, associate professor of teacher development, and Tamrat Tademe, associate professor of human relations.
In the letters, the three stated that the St. Cloud community has been "unwilling to effectively accommodate Blacks and SCSU has no intention of using its influence to impose better conditions for cultural diversity."
The letter cited 12 examples of racism as proof that racism was a problem at SCSU and in St. Cloud as a whole. Those articles, Cooper said, were just some of hundreds the three had unearthed while researching racism in St. Cloud and SCSU.
"We wrote the letter to call attention to the continuing and unabated racism that exists," Cooper said. "(SCSU) has a history of racism and the city is probably worse ... in fact, considerably worse. We decided to blow the whistle."
This is not the first time that Cooper, Davis and Tademe had written letters concerning racism in St. Cloud. Last year, similar letters were sent to eight community colleges in the state. The three have also been involved in fighting against racism since coming to SCSU in the 1980s (Cooper and Tademe) and 1990 (Davis).
In fact, two months after being hired, Cooper had written a letter to then SCSU President Brendan McDonald, stating his concern over attacks targeted at minorities.
"You ask me whether I am afraid of not being tenured or anything like that," Cooper said. "I say 'No.' If you wait until everything is safe before you say anything, then maybe you don't have a problem."
SCSU administrators were made aware of the letter Tuesday after receiving word from a guidance counselor at Park Centre High School.
A copy of the letter was then faxed to them and another was received Wednesday from a member of the administration. The second letter had been sent to Central High School in St. Paul.
Lisa Foss, SCSU director of marketing and communications, said administrators had sent a copy of the letter to the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system office.
The SCSU administration is now waiting for MnSCU administrators to decide what to do.
"We are waiting for a reply from them," Foss said. "Many of (the proper people at MnSCU) are away, so we should receive it (today)."
Cooper said the three realized that they could not stop minorities from enrolling at SCSU, but wanted to make them aware of what they would have to face living in St. Cloud.
"There is a college in Ohio called Oberlin College, which opened in 1831," he said. "It was the first school to admit women and blacks. They admitted women in 1831 and the blacks came two years later. It was one of the stops of the underground railroad and (the administrators) said they would welcome into the community any blacks who made it from the south.
"If we were to write a letter like what we did here, we would be laughed at. St. Cloud State is 180 degrees from this."
But many have questioned whether stopping minorities from attending SCSU would do anything about the racism that has been reported on campus. Cooper believes that asking minorities to come to SCSU so that the campus can learn about diversity is akin to asking African Americans to go to the South during the years of slavery.
SCSU President Roy Saigo is expected to pass a copy of the letter to St. Cloud Mayor John Ellenbecker sometime this week. Saigo is part of a city committee which deals with diversity issues.
"It's important that we do share this information with him," Foss said.
While university officials declined to speculate what kind of action may be taken about the letter, it is understood that there is some concern over it.
"I think it's clear that there are some individuals who have their own agenda and are using the university," Foss said. "I think it's not fair. I just think it would be much more constructive to dialogue."
But the letters will not stop, Cooper said, until and unless the university makes an effort to stop racism.
"Clean it up fast and convincingly, or we send more (letters)," Cooper said. "Don't create the problem and you don't have to solve the problem."
Leslie Andres can be reached at: [email protected]
|
|
|
|
|
|
