ISHMAEL N. DARO
Web Editor

The University Learning Centre is urging students to fight racism on campus.

The ULC — along with the International Student and Study Abroad Centre, Aboriginal Students’ Centre and University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union — has launched Take A Stand, an anti-racism initiative, after an incident in October in which a campus event was disrupted.

At the time, the Indigenous Students’ Council was holding a gathering near the Bowl to celebrate Aboriginal culture and mark the place of the proposed Aboriginal Students’ Centre. However, two passers-by started hurling insults at those gathered. One student, Katie Peters-Burns, confronted the two individuals and was spat upon before they made their escape.

“Spitting on someone is a type of assault and it is one of the most disrespectful things you could ever do to someone — especially a woman,” she said at the time.

That incident was the impetus for the new awareness campaign, Take A Stand.

Leon Thompson, USSU vice president student affairs, says that racism is an issue on campus even removed from such shocking instances.

“I think that racism exists on campus,” he said. “Racism is one of those things that you know is there, even if it’s hidden away or not visible.”

As a first step, posters have been distributed around campus on which students have expressed anti-racism messages. According to Thompson, the reaction has been mixed, with some people complaining that the messages were at times unclear.

In the first posters, students were encouraged to write whatever they wanted; some of the resulting messages were statements drawn from personal experiences that would not be immediately clear to everyone.

“I think the important thing is that it’s getting attention, that it’s meriting people’s interest and thought and critical engagement,” said Thompson. “Even if they don’t agree with the posters, it’s making them stop and think.”

Students are encouraged to have their photos and pledges taken if they want to join the initiative, and several events are planned for later this month. For one such event, anti-racist author and educator Tim Wise will give a lecture at Third Avenue United Church, followed by a panel discussion.

“This [initiative] is not only to fight against racism on campus,” said Thompson. “It’s also something for those students who have been affected by racism to look at and to know that, ‘Hey, I’m not alone in this. I have people that I can go to, there are places that I can go, people I can talk to. There are support services standing by.’ ”

Thompson says he hopes future USSU executives will continue the union’s participation in Take A Stand. He refused to comment, however, when asked if the proposed USSU Social Justice Centre might factor into the campaign. In the meantime, Thompson says students need to recognize that racism is still present on campus.

“It’s all well and good to say the university is a fantastic place and nothing ever goes wrong here but we need to bring it out in the open, if anything, just to engage students.”

For more information, see the Take A Stand website.