By Karon Majeel

The serenity of the Regis University campus is impressive. In contrast to larger Denver metro-area campuses, it lacks the furious frantic hustle and bustle and semi-subdued rowdiness of college campus life. On Friday, April 13, 2007, that serenity was disrupted by hate. Three students in West Hall awoke to find images accented with racist and anti-Semitic language ["I hate Jews!" and "Nigger Lips!", with swastikas] scrawled on the message boards on the message boards on their dormitory doors.

The University response has been varied, according to observers. The administration launched an investigation and concerned faculty held midday “Speak Out.”

Students held a “Student Diversity Dialogue” hosted by the Multicultural Awareness Committee later that evening, where about 50 students gave voice to their frustration – and anger. Some of that anger was directed at the college’s administration for issuing what critics called another “blanket statement” to address the incident.

“Both Catholic teaching and common sense make clear that all insults based on differences of race, sexual orientation, religion, or any other human characteristic intended to be hurtful and therefore are clearly sins against other human beings,” university president Father Michael Sheeran told the Highlander campus paper.

But some students, staff and faculty said Sheeran’s comments minimized the hurt caused by the remarks. Others described the administration’s view as color-blindness, and said the school turns a blind eye to racism.

“It’s easier for them to address the broader spectrum,” said Risschie Aran, senior and student body president.

Senior Challona Coleman has been instrumental in raising awareness on diversity issues and the challenges minority students face at Regis. In her sophomore year, she was the first president of Regis’ Black Student Alliance. Currently, she serves as MAC Director. The business major is multicultural (Black, Anglo and Chinese) and shifting from the BSA to MAC created a better opportunity for her to embrace and acknowledge the richness of her ethnicity.

“Why is this happening in 2007?” asked Coleman. “It feels like we’ve been set back 50 years.”

The university administration created the Office of the Associate to the Provost for Diversity in 2004. But the wheels turned slowly, observers said. The position was created after more than four years of deliberation by a university diversity taskforce. St. Louis native Sandra Mitchell, the second to hold the position, said she regrets the incident but sees a ray of hope.

“As difficult as this has been for everyone, it has raised awareness that not everyone’s experience has been the same,” she said.

Both Coleman and Aran expressed optimism that the incident can become a catalyst for positive institutionalized response from school administrators, beginning with a mandatory core class on diversity and more diversity among full-time faculty.

The experiences have sometimes been frustrating for the two students, who resent the attempts by some white students to define them by race alone. “I’m so tired of always being viewed as a spokesperson or poster child for my race,” lamented Coleman.

Aran agreed. “Some people even ask me to speak to the Black experience,” he said. “My parents are from Sri Lanka, but I have darker skin so I must be African American.”

Mitchell said that monthly diversity meetings emphasize that the school has become “more intentional” about minority student recruitment, despite there being only two Black freshmen in the 2007 undergraduate class, arriving in the fall. She added that soon there will be a Black professor at Regis College, in the Sociology Department, also arriving next semester.

Although she won’t be there to meet those new students, Coleman will be leaving an artistic response to the episode. With help from the school’s Media Services Department, she is producing a documentary chronicling recent events from her perspective as a woman of color at Regis.

Editor's note: Regis University is will host the 26th Annual meeting of the Association of Jesuit Colleges & Universities “Conference on Multicultural Affairs”, June 13-16, 2007.