Black Lives Matter rally hosted at Town Hall, discussed racist comments by faculty member
A rally for the Black Lives Matter movement was held during the town hall meeting with Dr. Jordan and Student Government Association representatives.
With less than fifty students in attendance, the town hall meeting topic discussed was the recent comments made on Facebook by Kenneth Thomas, USC Aiken baseball coach.
Bethany Halter, sophomore and member of the Black Student Union at USC Aiken stated, “Our president, Julia Evans, thought that this [rally] would be a great idea … so that we could get answer[s] and figure out ways to make minorities feel more comfortable on campus. Situations like this will not be tolerated or swept under the rug anymore, and I am proud to say that I am a part of this movement.”
Halter elaborated on how effective she found the town hall meeting to be. She said, “I feel like we … covered some ground on the subject, but … I do not feel like enough is being done because we as a school should have a no tolerance law … in place for situations like this, but the chancellor did state that it is under investigation.”
“Do I believe any justice will come from this? No, I do not. If we are handling this legally like the chancellor wants, Mr. Thomas will walk away from this because he [exercised] his freedom of speech,” Halter expressed.
Xavier Pierce, freshman, shared the same sentiment. “No one has been held accountable, and by the email that [the chancellor] sent out and the run-around answers from the chancellor, [it] doesn’t seem like anyone will be! We’d like to see this man fired. This hasn’t, to my knowledge, been the first incident like this [either].”
“From the outside looking in, [the chancellor] isn’t doing enough for the campus to be satisfied,” Pierce stated.
Halter brought up one of the most plaguing questions surrounding this event. “If it is okay for [Thomas] to make a racially stated comment and cover it up as a freedom of speech, what stops anyone from doing the exact same thing?”
The chancellor stated at the town hall meeting, “The question is: did he violate any terms of his contract? I can legally … investigate it. I’ve spoken to two attorneys already. We’re looking into this. It’s not about what he said at this point. That is legally all I can act on as an employer.”
The chancellor also expressed that she understands the inequality of laws but that she has to uphold them to avoid a lawsuit.
“I can not fire someone for what they believe. I can’t tell you [that] you’re suspended from this university because you believe what you believe. I can’t tell an employee. That’s against federal law, so I will do the maximum of what I can within the law. If that makes you unhappy, change the damn law.”
Michelle Johnson, junior, elementary education major, says that the university’s response to this incident is causing her to think about taking her college tuition elsewhere. “[We could go] to another PWI (primarily white institution) or even a HBCU (historically black college or university.) USCA has the potential to break the cycle, [but] the question is: what are they willing to do [about it]?”
Some examples of what could help the university in taking a step forward in advancing basic human rights for black people was discussed by Johnson.
“[They need to start by] getting an administrator of color on any and all boards and administrative groups. There should be some type of source we should be able to rely on to keep up with what’s going on.”
The investigation is ongoing at the time of this publication.
