Combating Racism on Campus

In March of 1986, a large contingent from western Massachusetts attended the March for Women’s Lives in Washington, DC. One hundred seventy students, faculty, staff, and community members traveled to the capital in support of reproductive rights.

That same year, a racially motivated fight erupted in the Southwest housing area at UMass which some characterized as a riot of white against black students. African American student Yancey Robinson was seriously injured. Chancellor Joseph Duffy asked Frederick Hurst, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, to investigate the riot. The Hurst Report outlined racial discrimination on campus and made recommendations for change.³² Among those changes were a number of committees that were charged with addressing racism in various aspects of campus life. In 1987, Arlene Avakian, John Bracey (Afro-Am), Meyer Weinberg (Horace Mann Bond Center), and Bailey Jackson (Education) were appointed to the Faculty Working Group on Racial Awareness and Cultural Diversity. This committee was charged with helping faculty develop new courses or revise old ones that addressed peoples of color and racism.³³

³² WOST newsletter Summer 1987.

³³ WOST newsletter Summer 1987.