Drawing renews concerns of blacks at UNM

An incident involving a student who found a racist and threatening drawing in his dorm hallway has renewed concerns within the African-American community at the University of New Mexico.

An African-American student at Coronado Hall, off Campus Boulevard and Girard NE, on Friday found a drawing of a black stick figure hanging from a noose with a racist expletive written on top. The drawing was on a white board outside a dorm room across the hall from him.

A UNM official said it was an isolated incident at the dorms, while another school leader said there have been other similar situations elsewhere on campus.

Scott Carreathers, director of the African American Student Services Center, said he and students found the n-word written on a board in a center conference room a few months ago. He has heard of at least three other incidents but did not have details.

Carreathers said it’s unusual to see so many incidents. “It’s frustrating, you know. We’re in the 21st century, and we’re still dealing with stuff like that. You know, it gets old. It gets frustrating. You don’t quite understand it, but you keep moving forward.”

Carreathers has teamed up with UNM student housing leaders to meet with students and get their comments.

“This has saddened us that it has occurred. (And) we want to address it as effectively as we can and as soon as we can,” interim student housing director Jenna Crabb said.

She said the student who found the drawing on Friday reported it to an employee, and officials filed a police report. Since then, Crabb and other housing employees have held a series of meetings with students. Also, UNM has increased security, she said.

Crabb said there have been no similar situations at any of the residence halls.

“Our priority was this particular resident but also the safety of all our residents,” Crabb said.

But the drawing reignited controversy at UNM over the African-American experience on campus. African-Americans comprise less than 3 percent of students, and only 1.6 percent of faculty are black.

A study launched in February 2011 by former president David Schmidly found that many African-Americans on campus feel they’re not treated fairly, and that the university has struggled to retain black faculty.

What’s more, a group of black ministers has filed a federal civil rights complaint against UNM, claiming it practices “systematic and institutionalized” racism against black faculty and staff. The complaint was filed with the U.S. Department of Education but was forwarded to the Department of Justice. That case has not moved forward.

UNM has denied accusations and said it’s committed to fostering diversity.

Harold Bailey, president of the Albuquerque NAACP, said he has been in contact with UNM administrators and hopes they take this opportunity to speak out against racism.

“This type of behavior should not be tolerated. Incidents of hate crime issues at UNM have happened in the past. No student should be subjected to such racist intent. The time is now for President Frank to send a strong and clear message that such conduct will not be tolerated and harsh penalties will be administered to those identified as conspirators,” he said.
— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal