The Anti-racism Campaign for Tommies was launched last Tuesday and Wednesday in the Anderson Student Center, where a multimedia project was sponsored and presented by Student Diversity and Inclusion Services. The student-centered project featured a photo series and video that showcased St. Thomas students of color and white allies talking about racism.

Students produced the ACT! project in response to recent national incidences of racism and were inspired by a photo series called “I, too, am Harvard” from Harvard University where Harvard students held up signs explaining their personal experiences with racism. The St. Thomas project intends to create dialogue and encourage action to confront systemic, institutional and individual racism at St. Thomas.

Banners featuring St. Thomas students of color, modeled after the Harvard photo series, hung in the Anderson Student Center from April 29 to May 6. The ACT! video played on the screens in the ASC atrium every 15 minutes on May 3 and 4 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Senior Melissa Kelly participated in the video and hopes it will make people more aware of how students of color feel on campus.

“We’re underrepresented here at St. Thomas. Like I said in the video, only 15 percent of undergraduates here are students of color,” Kelly said. “The faculty and staff are all really supportive, and I’ve met some amazing people here, but as a first-year student of color it was really hard to fit in.”

Senior Kaja Vang wanted to get involved with the project because of her passion for social justice as well as her own experiences with racism. Vang believes that St. Thomas must confront racial issues in order to fully live out its mission.

“We need to have these racial conversations because it allows us to acknowledge the humanity that connects us to one another,” Vang said. “Without addressing these issues that we have at (St. Thomas), I don’t think we can move forward to advance the common good, to be critical thinkers or people who act wisely.”

SDIS graduate assistant Freesia Towle worked with students to organize the ACT! project. Towle said students reacted to the video and banners in a variety of ways, including by ignoring it.

“The general, dominant population of students didn’t seem to take interest in what was going on, which proved that this is an issue we need to talk about. While I still think that there was an impact, I think students within our SDIS community who took leadership on this project had their concerns validated,” Towle said.

The ACT! video and photo series will be posted on the SDIS web page. Towle mentioned the possibility using the project used for future campus events or trainings. She said the project’s overall goal was to bring awareness to issues of racism that students feel within the St. Thomas community.

“We can’t be a strong community if there’s a huge group of students feeling isolated, marginalized and underrepresented on campus,” Towle said.

Kelly hopes that once students are more aware of racial issues, they will take the next step to make an effort to be more inviting and understanding.

“I want my community to be aware and educated on these topics. We are an excellent school, and if we expanded in the area of implementing that learning into our culture and our community, that will expand even more because those are our future leaders,” Kelly said.

Claire Noack can be reached at noac8702@stthomas.edu.