Colleges Are in for a Racial Reckoning

Five years later, it was happening again.

I watched as Minneapolis erupted in unrest this spring with a sinking sense of déjà vu. George Floyd’s death had set off an all-too-familiar pattern: A Black man is killed in police custody, his death mourned by thousands who take to the streets in protest, clashing with law enforcement until the tension breaks into violence.

It was the same story that played out in Baltimore, my home of nine years, when Freddie Gray was killed. Or so I thought.

Half a decade ago, when the whole world was watching Baltimore, everyone’s eyes seemed trained on the destruction, their focus fleeting. But this time, they haven’t looked away.

Undeterred by a raging pandemic, millions have joined the protest movement for racial justice. Ideas that once seemed radical have taken hold, shaping widespread demands for change at institutions of every kind. And nearly two months later, the momentum hasn’t slowed.

Students might not be on campus this summer (and, let’s face it, they might not be there this fall), but the young people leading this movement have made it clear they’re not backing down. They’re fed up with the status quo and refuse to accept the hand life dealt them. Colleges are in for a racial reckoning, and they’d best be prepared.

This issue offers a glimpse of what’s to come. The Chronicle spoke with four student activists — a cross-section of the American racial-justice movement — about the oppression, frustration, and discouragement they’ve faced, on campus and off. They described how policing, instruction, staffing, and iconography at their institutions have taken a toll on their education and well-being. And they shared what they plan to do about it.

Like the generations before them who took up the cause of equality, these students are repeating familiar patterns: rallying their peers, drafting lists of demands, staging protests, pushing back on posturing meant to placate them.

But perhaps, this time, the story will end differently.

—Rachel Cieri Mull, Senior Editor