African Americans in Modern University

The University After Morrill Hall

The Morrill Hall takeover that occurred in 1969 dramatically changed the University as a whole. African Americans influenced reform in the University's curriculum and established new programs to help black students. However, one could argue that things have become stagnant in the years since the takeover.

University Shows Support 

The University of Minnesota, even in its early non-racist years, never helped promote black students to succeed. In the 1990s things would change when the University joined a national database¹ which will 

• Give African American students more graduate school opportunities
• Increase minority graduate school enrollment at University

The University also was making internal changes. In 1991 Dennis Cabral (Acting Associate Provost) wrote a letter to President Hasselmo in which he suggested possible talking points in the meeting between Hasselmo and the AAAC.² These points are shown in the photograph 

to the left. Through these points, it is evident that the university is attempting to help African American students find success.

Racism In Dorms

While the University was attempting to help students academically, they were doing little to combat instances of racism. In the 1990s the University of Minnesota had fully integrated housing. There were many reports of racial discrimination occurring in university dorms. This discrimination was from other students and not the university itself, as it was in the 1930s. Bailey Hall, on the St. Paul campus, was subject to such instances of racism, as seen by this article written by Heidi Nevala³

The incidents started at Bailey Hall and quickly moved to other dorms as well. African American students at Frontier Hall were subject to harassment by very frequent phone calls.⁵  Students at Frontier Hall said they started to receive 50 calls a week each.⁶ These calls were anonymous and included racial slurs and even threats. The University claimed they would combat these racial instances however they did not take action beyond saying students who were found partaking in this behavior would be punished. On Dec. 6th, 2017 racist remarks were found on the bulletin board at 17th Avenue residential hall.⁴ As of Dec. 21st, 2017 nothing beyond sending an email about a "bias incident" has been done to combat this. I became aware of this incident by the means of a Facebook post by student Noah Branch.