‘Black Community for Kander’ is launched
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Jason Kander hopes to unseat Republican incumbent U.S. Senator Roy Blunt
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2015 Newspaper of the Year!
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St. LouiS AmericAn The
CAC Audited APRIL 21 – 27, 2016
Vol. 88 No. 3 COMPLIMENTARY
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WUSTL recognizes ‘Trailblazers’ Vice provost reports on inclusion progress at inaugural recognition event
Photo by Kevin Lowder/WUSTL
Inaugural Washington University Trailblazers Cynthia L. Cosby and Brittany N. Packnett connected at the inaugural recognition ceremony held on the Danforth Campus on Friday, April 15.
By Chris King Of The St. Louis American
n “Washington University empowered me in ways I didn’t know I needed.”
Adrienne D. Davis, vice provost and endowed professor of law at Washington University, seized its inaugural Trailblazers Recognition Ceremony on Friday, April 15 as an opportunity to report on the university’s progress on matters of diversity and inclusion. Over the last three years, the university’s senior leadership team – administrators with a chancellor or provost title – went up from four to 11 African Americans. The University Council, which is the senior administration,
– Brittany N. Packnett
went from 23 women to a slight majority of women. With newly recruited hires, its percentage of black faculty
Salute to Health
See WUSTL, A7
Students who reported racist SLU incident feel ignored
Seven stellar awardees American staff The St. Louis American Foundation is honoring seven outstanding professionals in the health care field as Salute to Excellence in Health Care Awardees on Friday, April 29 at the Frontenac Hilton.
‘I’m just tired of seeing people get away with racism’
Anthony Bass For the past seven years, Anthony Bass has served as a medical social worker at SSM DePaul Health Center in Bridgeton. He also maintains a private practice counseling individuals and families, with more than 20 years of experience working in social work and mental health. Bass volunteers with a number of community organizations, including the St. Louis Minority Health Coalition, the Self-Help Center, the 27th Ward Infant Mortality Group, as well as St. Louis County Probation and Parole. For the past six years, Bass has served on the boards of the state and local chapters of the Missouri Association of Social Welfare. Misty Collier Farr Pharmacist Dr. Misty Collier Farr is a See SALUTE, A6
By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American
for several hours at the federal courthouse. While the vast majority of speakers either supported the deal or wanted aspects of the consent decree strengthened, a number of Ferguson residents indicated they still didn’t
The two Saint Louis University students who brought to light some SLU baseball players’ racial slurs met with university president Fred Pestello on Tuesday, April 19. “It’s wasn’t the meeting we were hoping for,” said Dominique Morgan, the African-American SLU freshman who filed the bias incident report against the n “It’s players. “We were hoping to largely a talk about the investigation. They were set on talking university about restorative justice, problem, which sounds more like a and it negotiation. We are not too speaks to optimistic.” On April 4, Morgan filed this idea that the complaint after seeing we admit a a screenshot of a private certain type messaging group conversation of student among SLU baseball pitchers, where one player called that feels President Obama a “f—ing comfortable watermelon eatin baboon” speaking during the team’s trip to like this.” Washington D.C. in May 2015. – Stefan Her boyfriend, SLU senior Bradley, SLU Brenden Twomey, was the professor baseball team’s manager from spring 2014 to early 2015. In March this year, Twomey, who is African-American, showed her the screenshot of the conversation while they were flipping through old pictures on his phone. Since filing the report, the two students have faced retaliation at Twomey’s home and now
See FERGUSON, A6
See STUDENTS, A7
Photo by Wiley Price
Students ally with adjunct faculty Washington University students Leora Spipper, Danielle Blocker and Christian Ralph, a member of the Student Worker Alliance, celebrated with about 200 students, faculty and staff on Thursday, April 14 after a bargaining unit of adjunct faculty reached a tentative agreement with the university.
Ferguson consent decree approved by judge ‘We want Ferguson to be known for how it responded to this crisis’ – Christy Lopez, DOJ By Mariah Stewart and Ryan J. Reilly Of Huffington Post A federal judge on Tuesday, April 19 approved a deal between the City of Ferguson and the U.S. Department of Justice that aims to end the patterns of unconstitutional
policing and municipal court practices that helped spark unrest in the St. Louis suburb following the police killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown Jr. in August 2014. U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry signed off on the consent decree after hearing from supporters and opponents of the deal