Wesleyan Students of Color Issue Demands

Organized under the banner, "Wesleyan. Is This Why?" students of color at Wesleyan have delivered a set of demands to Wesleyan President Michael Roth for greater inclusion at the university.

The demands are listed on the Is This Why? website, and like a similar set of demands issued at Yale, the University of Missouri and other schools, all are linked to specific deadlines.  Some of those deadlines call for action within 48 hours.

The group demands equity and inclusion in all aspects of university life, and also proposes accountability for each.  Among the demands are creation of an action plan that recognizes Wesleyan's "perpetuating the vilification of students of color and their voices," and "failing to reach out to the student of color community (Black and Brown students) when campus controversies that directly affect us occur."

The group also demands hiring of two new administrators including an equity advocate and a director of director of multicultural affairs.

In addition, the group asks for an anonymous reporting system to track "cases of bias, including microaggressions, perpetrated by faculty and staff."

The demands were issued on a Worldwide Day of Action, November 18.