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MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2024
VOLUME 130, ISSUE 5
“Diversity, Equity And Inclusion Is Not Made A Priority:” BSO Holds Anti-Racist Protest At UNR
Zoe Malen / Nevada Sagebrush Protestors gathered on the front steps of the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center on April 16. According to organizers, there have been many racist incidents in the past that have gone unaddressed
By Nick Stewart The Black Student Organization at the University of Nevada, Reno held a protest in front of the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center to take a stand against repeated racist incidents that they say have not been properly addressed by the university. This protest comes after an incident in Argenta Hall on the seventh floor where a student was filmed yelling racial slurs in the early morning hours of April 5. A large crowd gathered on the steps of the KC, many holding large signs with messages condemning racism, like: “Be a buddy, not a b—” and “Hate 4 One is Hate 4 All”. There were many loud chants and their voices could be heard across the campus. Initially believed to be a white student, the student who yelled the slurs has since identified themselves as a person of color according to a social media post by BSO. The protest addresses not only this incident, but others that protest organizers and attendees feel have gone unaddressed.
Virchelle Banks, BSO president and an organizer of the protest, feels confident they were noticed by members of the campus community. “I feel like we were really loud and people heard us,” said Banks. “I remember us shouting and just hearing our voices echo in the parking garage that’s right across from the KC.” Banks says the point of the protest was to make sure people hear them out. “It’s not a black versus white issue, it’s not a race against race issue,” said Banks. “We just want people to hear where we’re coming from. We want to make this university inclusive and as diverse as they say it is.” Many students and faculty stopped by to watch the protest. Some would walk up the steps to join them in the chants. “I feel like people think things like this are a joke, or that it’s funny when you say the n-word,” said Daisy Partey, UNR student. “I don’t
think it’s something that we should just brush over, we’re in the day and age where people should know better.” Evan Robinson, ASUN Advocacy Director and senator-elect for the College of Liberal Arts, was at the protest and gave a speech and organized chants for the crowd. During his speech, Robinson emphasized that black students only make up four percent of the student body, and that they need support from not only within the black community, but support from nonblack people. He says that many of the black students at UNR either transfer or drop out of the university, and he believes a big reason is hate speech that goes unaddressed. “When we don’t hold those folks accountable, what does that tell the campus community? What does that tell white supremacists? What does that tell people who think about hurting black or brown lives? It tells them that it’s okay and they have a pass to do it.”
Robinson wants to revisit this during his time as a new ASUN senator, and wants to use his platform to make change on campus. “As a senator-elect for ASUN, I do plan on following up on this and really utilizing our inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility committee to really try to create some legislation that’s going to implement training for residents,” said Robinson. “Ultimately, this is because there’s no training. Diversity, equity and inclusion is not made a priority.” Following the protest, BSO held a post-protest workshop in the Multicultural Center in the Joe Crowley Student Union, where people could socialize, grab food and water, and reflect on the protest.
Nick Stewart can be reached at ns@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @nickk_stewart.
We just want people to hear where we’re coming from. We want to make this university inclusive and as diverse as they say it is.
UNR Dean of Engineering Replaced, Associate Dean Taking Place By Jaedyn Young Erick Jones, the dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno, was replaced by Indira Chatterjee, the current associate dean of engineering after recommendation by Jeff Thompson, executive vice president and provost. Brian Sandoval, the president of the university, approved the appointment of Chatterjee as the acting dean in the “absence” of Jones, according to university officials. Scott Walquist, director of communications at the university, told The Nevada Sagebrush in an email that he could not provide the reasoning. “We are unable to provide additional information as this is a confidential personnel matter,” Walquist wrote. Previously, the Sagebrush reported on questionable content that arose in the research articles from the dean. A blog post was published by Andrew Gelman, a statistics and political science professor at Columbia University, who commented on the “empty jargon” present in
the studies. Following the article, students and internet sleuths have dug up more articles with dubious content. Some found articles consisting of only seven sentences, multiple duplicates of articles published in different volumes and very short peer review processes for all articles. Jones replied to the allegations in the comment section of Gelman’s blog post claiming Gelman’s assessment of the work was “unjust”; he said he “gave up” being editor of the journal a “few years back,” but is still the initial founder and editor of the publication, as well as an investor. “The journal is peer reviewed and it was designed initially for more American supply chain practitioners, researchers and undergraduate students in applied application labs to publish with faculty, from internships and class papers on applied engineering activities that are related to supply chain technologies,” said Jones.
A petition was started to then call for his resignation, but also for UNR to conduct a review of their hiring processes to “ensure that senior faculty are held to at least the same standards of academic integrity as are undergraduate students.” Jessica Lozada, a communications officer for the university told the Sagebrush that they were aware of the allegations and they would be investigating and reviewing the issue. There had been no news of this issue until today as reported by Walquist. It was also revealed that during the university’s search for a dean in 2022, there were five finalists were presented to multiple open forums during the hiring process: Andreas Polycarpou, the department head for the College of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University from 2012 to 2021 Krishna Pagilla, a professor and chair of civil and environmental engineering at UNR James Klausner, a foundation professor at Michigan State University in the department
of mechanical engineering and executive director for the Fraunhofer USA Center Midwest in the Coatings and Diamond Technologies Division; Ozlem Kilic, the associate dean and professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in the Tickle College of Engineering and the executive director, Intercollegiate Data Science Program Suzanna Long, a chair and professor at Missouri University in the department of engineering management and systems engineering However, Erick Jones, the current dean, was not listed in the finalists. Emerson Drewes contributed to this story.
Jaedyn Young can be reached at jaedynyoung@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @jaedyn_young3.