This week, as we reflect on racial history and activism on campus, it is worth questioning the progress that St. Olaf College, as an institution, has made.
Following the 2017 campus protests, many of the BIPOC leaders faced financial, academic, emotional, and legal repercussions that left a lasting impact on these individuals. Yet once these demonstrations end, there is only minimal follow-up accountability from the St. Olaf administration and community. We as the SGA Taskforce Against Racism (STAR) and the Political Awareness Committee (PAC) believe it’s important to organize a series of reflective and teaching events around racial history and activism at St. Olaf College.
As of 2022, around 17 percent of staff of color believe campus administration dealt with racism or racist incidents very or extremely effectively. The four-year graduation rate for the POC class of 2022 is at 78 percent, a two percent increase since the class of 2018. This is not to mention the numerous women faculty of color that have left the college in the past six years, citing a lack of support and institutional racism from students and faculty alike.
On April 21, POC Ole Theater was finally allowed to perform in the Haugen Theater in the Theater Building. However, they were only allocated 90 minutes of rehearsal space in Haugen on the day of their performance with hazardous construction material left behind on stage that they were not allowed to move. They were prevented from accessing the advanced lighting and sound in Haugen and specifically instructed to make sure that the space was left clean by the department.
Some students like to say that a lack of diversity is in the past. In May, associate professor of statistics and education Sharon Lane-Getaz will be retiring. She is one of the few African-American woman to be tenured at St. Olaf College. In 2017, the Presidential Leadership Team agreed to the list of demands drafted by The Collective For Change On The Hill. Some demands were fulfilled. There was the creation of a Bias Response Team, funding of Curricular Practical Training (CPT), and applications for international students were implemented. However, the College has not met the majority of the Collective for Change on the Hill’s demands.
To learn more about the history of racism at St. Olaf, students can check out PAC’s hallway display in the Rolvaag-Buntrock hallway and stop by their retrospective on racism at campus on Thursday, April 27 at 9:00 p.m. in the King’s Dining Room with Professor William Sonnega. The event is a screening and discussion on his documentary “Can We Talk,” which consists of POC students informally discussing their experiences at St. Olaf. In 1996, the St. Olaf administration did not permit the film to be shown. It’s shocking to listen to how similar their experiences can be almost 30 years later.
The learning doesn’t end this week, either. It goes beyond, and it is ongoing. Reflect on your own biases and behaviors towards your fellow POC community members, especially to women faculty of color.
The history of prejudice on this land starts with the genocide of the Dakota community and settler-colonialism of the college’s founders. It continues with us, and it shall end with us. Will you follow in the footsteps of racism, or disrupt it in the name of generational healing?
A correction was made on Dec. 5, 2023: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Sharon Lane-Getaz was the first African-American woman to be tenured at St. Olaf College. There were African-American women previously tenured by the College.
Luanga Kasanga Jr. is from Lubumbashi, DR Congo.
His majors are Asian studies and political science.
Caitlyn Pelikan is from Boyceville, Wisc.
Her majors are history and political science.
