The main lounge in the University of Wisconsin’s Witte Residence Hall was filled near to capacity Wednesday night with students responding to the recent racial harassment toward housefellow Daniel Steinbring.
The words “N-gger Sucks” were discovered Sept. 27 in the dorm stairwell near Steinbring’s room. Steinbring also received two phone calls Oct. 7 saying, “N-gger go home.”
The university has been slow in proposing a resolution to this problem.
The campus group Promoting Racial and Ethnic Awareness held the teach-in in Witte’s main lounge, together with Southeast dorm resident life coordinators and multicultural residence coordinators.
Resident Life Coordinator Jennifer Adams organized the forum so that students could know “what was going on in Witte Hall” and hold a dialogue about the specific incident and other race issues at UW.
Multicultural Residence Coordinator Preniscia Clifton said she was moved to see so many people turn out.
“By you guys being here,” said Clifton, “you are already helping stop the negativity going around on campus.”
Juan Pablo Marchan, another MRC, started off the session by stating that the participants wanted to create a comfortable environment for people to have a conversation on the issue and reminding the crowd to be respectful of other people’s opinions.
The first person to speak in the open forum was Witte resident Tarsha Kimber. She urged the non-minority students in the room to imagine what it would feel like to be a member of a minority and be instantly judged by others based on race. Kimber said that on more than one occasion she has had people ask her questions such as “What sport do you play?” or “What program are you in?”, assuming it is unlikely a student of color got into UW on academics alone.
Another student from the crowd said, “The situation with Dan [Steinbring] is important, but it is just one instance, and students of color face racism every day.”
Elizabeth Medhin, a UW minority student, said she had gone to predominantly white schools all her life and hadn’t experienced prejudice until she got to UW. After she arrived and saw the state of UW’s racial attitude, Medhin said she couldn’t wait to graduate.
“A lot of people just think, ‘OK, I’m here at UW-Madison, this is how things are, I’m going to get my degree and get the hell out of here,'” she added.
Most students indicated they were present at the teach-in because they felt strongly about what was happening in their community and wanted to help if they could.
The members of PREA said coming to the teach-in was the first step toward changing things. They also stressed the importance of leaving comfort regions to stand up for what one thinks is just.
The majority of the students who voiced their opinions said they felt happy and encouraged by the large turnout and the obvious enthusiasm for ending racism.
PREA will hold a follow-up dialogue Friday at 4 p.m. in Chadbourne Residence Hall.
