USC students demand change to address inequality on campus. Here’s what they want
In the wake of nationwide protests over systemic racism, University of South Carolina student leaders are making a renewed push for more change at the school.
In a letter released Friday, amid Juneteenth celebrations and remembrances, 25 leaders from campus organizations called for mandatory classes that teach about marginalized communities, the renaming of buildings named after people who participated in hate speech or owning slaves, increasing diversity among professors and top administrators and expanding outreach to in-state students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Student body president Issy Rushton, one of the letter’s signatories, read what the students called their action plan on a conference call with USC’s board of trustees on Friday.
In the letter, the students referenced a list of demands issued by another student group in 2015, titled “2020 Vision,” that called for historical markers acknowledging the university’s past involvement in slavery, increased minority recruitment efforts and the creation of a social justice minor, among other requests.
Citing some of the progress the university has made in its diversity efforts since that 2015 list, the student leaders argued still more has to be done for “the creation of a greater Carolinian experience for all.”
Divided into six points, the list of demands calls for, among other things:
- Core course requirements being expanded to include classes on marginalized communities
- Renaming buildings named after individuals with “racist backgrounds,” including the J. Marion Sims Women’s Residence Hall, the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center and the Thomas Cooper Library
- Expanded efforts by the Office of Pre-Professional Advising to reach students from marginalized communities and help them advance to professional schools
- Expanded minority recruitment efforts, including the creation of scholarship and grant programs specifically for minorities
- The inclusion of implicit bias and other topics in the university’s new diversity module during first-year student orientation and expanded training on diversity education for faculty and staff
- More on-campus gathering places for “celebrating the multicultural history of the university”
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Rushton said after reading the letter to the board of trustees. “This institution will not be judged by how it treats its general population. It will be judged by how it treats its most marginalized citizens.”
The letter was co-signed by leading members of the university’s student government, the Association of African American Students, the Graduate Student Association, the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the Black Honors Caucus and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
USC’s board of trustees has asked the state legislature to rename the residence hall named after J. Marion Sims, a doctor who performed medical experiments on enslaved women. President Bob Caslen asked for patience as the university’s Commission on Historical Building Naming continues to research other potential changes.
