UW-Eau Claire Diversity Task Force Makes Recommendations Following Racist Incidents

Editor’s note: This story includes language some may find offensive.

In response to multiple racist incidents on the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire campus in 2019, the university has issued a list of recommendations aimed at improving equity, diversity and inclusion.

In November, five UW-Eau Claire football team members were suspended for sharing racist messages mocking a Black Male Empowerment student organization on Snapchat. The messages included an image of Klu Klux Klan members in white hoods and gowns standing before a burning cross with a suggestion that the sender was going to hold a white male empowerment group meeting.

The month before the racist Snapchat messages were made public, a note with a racist slur was left on the door of a member of the UW-Eau Claire Inter-Tribal Student Council student organization. The note told the student, who identifies as Red Lake Ojibwe, to “Go back to the rez Red N-word.”

Wisconsin Public Radio is choosing not to use the full racial slur.

The incidents prompted rebukes from UW-Eau Claire Chancellor James Schmidt who called for the creation of an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Rapid Action Task Force (EDI) in December to identify specific actions the university could take to improve the climate on campus. The task force’s final report was released Wednesday.

The 16-member task force recommended creating a restorative justice program with a full-time staff member to help resolve student misconduct cases by getting perpetrators and victims to agree on common solutions.

Other recommendations include encouraging a culture of reporting and responding to hate and bias incidents and updating crisis communication plans to protect the campus community by informing it before information is released to the public. Task force members also suggested making the university’s equity, diversity and inclusion website easier to use, and engaging campus stakeholders in order to review the university codes of conduct.

In a press release, Schmidt called the task force’s report an extraordinary effort to provide thoughtful and challenging recommendations.

“We aspire to be an inclusive, supportive and antiracist university and the new report will assure that we can take immediate and effective steps to move closer to that goal,” said Schmidt. “I look forward to the upcoming campus conversations and to working with our faculty, staff and students to enhance our accountability, communication and campus culture in support of EDI.”

UW-Eau Claire journalism professor Jan Larson co-chaired the EDI task force. In a statement, she said the group’s recommendations cannot end racism, bias or hate at UW-Eau Claire or any other campus. But she said it can improve the campus climate and its response to incidents of hate or bias.

“The recommendations can help us better articulate our values and expectations as a campus community,” said Larson. “They can help us support people who are targeted when incidents do occur. They can help us hold accountable the people who engage in such behavior while providing opportunities for change, growth and healing. And, they can help us further develop a climate and culture that thrives because of its equitable, diverse and inclusive nature.”