BSU: Black students demand accountability

continued from page 1 from 5C administrations on providing adequate safe spaces.

“When you share a space with people that look like you, and go through similar experiences like you, it makes the campus feel like home,” Turner said.

The third demand, “Increased Retention of Rate of Black Students,” calls out the institution for its low retention of Black students, citing the “lack of academic support, career development and personal/emotional support” on campus as a main cause.

This section also calls on Pitzer to aggressively recruit students by “going into more predominantly Black areas with full transparency of the opportunities Pitzer College can provide them with.”

The final section, “Concern for the Well-Being of Black Students,” demands “adequate representation, through staff members and mental health professionals, as well as access to resources that are catered to Black students on campus.” The document also cites the fact that as of 2023, Pitzer employs only 11 Black faculty and staff members of their 344 employees.

For Turner, increased retention rates and concern for Black well-being “go hand-inhand.”

“If you want to increase retention rate, you have to create an inclusive environment for those particular students,” she said.

Turner also said the 5Cs shine a “bright light” on campus diversity, but the consortium is still failing to create this fully inclusive environment. “I think that is really necessary if you’re going to boast about [having] a diverse campus,” she said.

The day after Pitzer’s BSU published their statement, Scripps’ BSU, Watu Weusi, shared their disappointment with Scripps administration for their “lack of acknowledgement” of Black History Month via Instagram.

The post noted that Scripps held no institutional events in honor of Black History month outside of “a mere mention of BHM in a campuswide newsletter” and one film screening from Scripps Communities of Resources and

Empowerment (SCORE).

Watu Weusi also called out Scripps for “inhibit[ing] outreach and membership capabilities” by not providing them with any contact information for incoming and current Black students.

“Through anecdotal experiences and institutionallybacked data, Scripps College has fallen short in meeting the needs of Black students,” Watu Weusi said in their post. The Pitzer BSU’s formal demands come less than three years after students released a September 2020 address titled, “How Pitzer can support the success of their Black students.”

In the 2020 address, students referenced the 5C BSU demands of the administration in the ’60s. “52 years and yet our list of requests read almost identical to theirs,” the statement read. “This point further shows that the colleges have failed their students with lack of sustainable policies in regard to admission and recruitment.”

In 2023, the members of the BSU still feel ignored and neglected.

“Three years later the safety and wellness of Black students continue to go unacknowledged,” Pitzer BSU’s 2023 statement read.