After the University of Missouri abruptly cancelled the Legion of Black Collegians’ (LBC) “Black 2 School Block Party” amid anti-DEI pressure, the Missouri Students Association (MSA) passed a bill highlighting that the university violated its anti-discrimination policy, Columbia Missourian reported.
After the university asserted that it wouldn’t meet the demands, MSA President Logan Kuykendall said the group wanted to ensure LBC felt their support.
We want to make sure that we, as MSA, are doing everything we can to support the legion,” Kuykendall said.
“Having that resolution passed and being able to take that into meetings, saying that this is the standing opinion of the student body, is going to be a good continuing step.”
In a statement from the university, it pushes back against the accusations of violation, saying the notes of the party pushed a narrative of inclusivity.
“The University of Missouri fosters a non-discriminatory campus environment. When holding events using University facilities, student organizations must avoid excluding individuals based on race,” the statement read.
“The name of the ‘Black 2 Class Block Party’ proposed by LBC suggested such exclusivity. For that reason, the decision was made that the event as described would not be held on campus.”
While LBC President Amaya Morgan said the town hall would have sufficed as many students were “very angry and hurt by the things that the university is doing,” Kuykendall says with the bill, MSA will carry on the fight, continue to lift voices, and keep the conversation going on the growing concern of campus racial harassment. “We are hoping that this resolution will help enter the conversations with trying to find some sort of middle ground and trying to see where we can work to address the systemic problems that we still see,” Kuykendall said.
The lawsuit alleged that the ban constituted a repeat offense.
“Dr. Mun Choi—chancellor of the University—took this action against MSJP last year and is set to repeat the violation again this year only because of the pro-Palestine views the student group expresses,” the litigation read.
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Source: Black Enterprise
