San Jose State Accused Of Not Responding To Alleged Racist Remark Made By Member Of Campus Organization
SAN JOSE (KCBS)— San Jose State University officials are being accused of failing to respond to another alleged racist incident on campus that occurred last February.
Students are demanding action and have accused a member of the university's Tower Foundation, a philanthropy organization, of making racist remarks in the presence of at least one campus official.
"At this meeting, this Tower member made a comment and it was, 'I donate to this university because these little Latinas don't have the DNA to be successful,'. It was kind of out of nowhere. The VP was there were Tower members (board members) [present] and it wasn't addressed. Nobody said anything," said Christina Saleem with the campus organization— Students for Racial Equality.
SJ State Accused Of Not Responding To Alleged Racist Remark Made By Member Of Campus Organization
This follows the hate-crime charges that were filed in 2013 against four white students for allegedly bullying their African-American dorm mate.
"There were promises made that changes would happen. And still yet, no direct changes. When this happened from a board member, it should have been immediately addressed, by Mo [Qayoumi]," said Jethro Moore, president of the local chapter of the NAACP.
Qayoumi, the university's president, issued a statement Monday on the issue:
Dear Campus Community,
Ensuring a tolerant, inclusive and welcoming environment for every SJSU community member is a campus and personal priority. A group of concerned students has announced its intent to gather today to discuss an incident of concern that occurred earlier this year.
Although confidentiality considerations limit what can be shared today, I want to do my best to clarify what has been and is being done to address this situation.
The incident itself involves remarks by a member of the Tower Foundation Board during a meeting in February with a small group of SJSU staff members, including a member of my Cabinet. These alleged remarks were the subject of some follow up discussion, and informal remedies were discussed at various levels.
In August, a formal complaint was lodged with our Human Resources office and a formal external review has been ongoing since then. A report based on that review was provided to my office just days ago, and we are now closely reviewing it to determine appropriate next steps.
We are especially sensitive to issues of tolerance and civility in the wake of the racially motivated actions against a student in our residence halls in 2013. Although I know some have been frustrated by a perceived lack of action since this incident occurred, we owe it to everyone to thoughtfully, thoroughly and factually determine what occurred before taking action.
Thank you for your patience.
Mo Qayoumi
President
