This story was originally published by Daily Montanan:
URL: https://dailymontanan.com
This story has not been altered or edited.
(C) Daily Montanan. Licensed for re-distribution through Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
------------



University of Montana students protest professor who used 'n' word – Daily Montanan

['Keila Szpaller', 'More From Author', '- March']

Date: 2022-03-03 00:00:00

At a protest Thursday calling for the firing or resignation of a University of Montana professor who used racist slurs in private communications, students grilled President Seth Bodnar directly about the inaction from Main Hall after speeches and chants.

“Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Clayton Looney’s got to go!”

Bodnar told the crowd of roughly 100 students, faculty staff and administrators that he showed up mainly to listen, but he also condemned racism in all its forms, and he said righting the societal ill is “always going to be a work in progress.”

“I want you know that I am angry when I read those comments,” Bodnar said.

As he spoke, members of the crowd periodically interjected: “Do something. Do something about it.” One of the signs read “Tolerating racism IS racism.”

Last spring, UM conducted a Title IX investigation after a student brought communications that showed College of Business Professor Looney using the “n” word and other racial slurs denigrating Black people and Muslims in private messages. UM deemed the matter a non-workplace issue, but the result has left many students dissatisfied and angry, and some spoke at the mic about their direct experiences with racism.

Ankara Taçidin, a freshman in psychology, said he’s spent five years in the United States, and it isn’t the experience that he imagined. He said he has encountered a lot of racism.

“I get called a virus no matter where I go,” Taçidin said.

At the demonstration, students asked UM administrators to create a safe space for people of color, fund programs such as the Student Advocacy Resource Center, and, first and foremost, fire Looney. Another sign at the protest played on goal for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and it said “D.E.I.? More like Didn’t Even Investigate.”

Earlier this week, the Associated Students of the University of Montana also adopted a resolution calling for Looney’s resignation and an examination of the faculty union contract.

Ajaysia Hill, who brought the matter to the administration last spring and the ASUM this semester, grilled the president Thursday. She said she was tired of hearing people voice support for students without taking action, and Hill, a Black woman, said their safety was on the line.

“I do fear for my friends, and that’s probably why you don’t see many of them here,” Hill said.

She also wanted to know when Bodnar planned to make a statement condemning the comments made by Looney, as he did in the fall after a Montana Kaimin investigation showed faculty member Rob Smith had made sexist, homophobic and Islamophobic blog posts. Smith resigned in the wake of the investigation.

Bodnar generally said he condemned racism, and in the exchange, another student yelled: “Your silence is violence.”

Hill has been bringing the matter to public attention, and she said white people who want to stand in support need to be actively antiracist: “You don’t need to say what Clayton Looney said to be a part of the problem.”

She and others have pressed the campus to find a way to fire Looney, a Poe Family Distinguished Faculty Fellow who has worked at UM since 2006, and she said rather than use the law as an excuse to protect Looney, UM administrators should use the law to protect students.

“If there are no students, then you guys don’t have a job,” Hill said.

At least one speaker also said students shouldn’t bear the responsibility of pushing the campus against racism, and they should instead be free to use their time to go to class and study instead.

Nas Jabr, the vice president of LAMBDA, described himself as a Palestinian Arab American who is affected by Looney’s comments. He said he has been targeted every single day of his life — without exaggeration — with racist jokes.

Jabr, studying anthropology and archaeology, also said he gave the administration a to-do list, including doing better background checks so students don’t have to find themselves in the position they’re in. But top of the list was ousting the professor.

“You hired him, after all. If you hired him, you can fire him,” Jabr said.

He had a request for students as well: “Don’t go quietly after today.”

[END]

[1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2022/03/03/university-of-montana-students-protest-professor-who-used-n-word/

Content is licensed through Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/