Following the April 17 Board of Trustees meeting, students held a protest at the scramble light April 18 in response to the changes made in regard to the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts by the Board of Trustees.
According to an Instagram post by Feminists for Action, the reason of this protest is, “mobilizing against the recent email confirming that BSU will comply with Trump’s attacks on DEI and Ball State’s Board of Trustees unanimously approval to the changes to multiple statements, including the university’s “Freedom of Expression” statement and the 2012 value statement.”
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Students gathered at the scramble light, chanting, “BSU will not comply, we say keep DEI”, holding signs before marching to the Administration building and the campus icon, Beneficence. A few protesters hold signs asking, “What would Benny do?”
Protester Iris Romero came to protest because she believes as a young hispanic woman this impacts her and her people.
Romero knows that there is some young hispanic high school girl looking to come to college who deserves to be a part of the DEI program, she said.
“You can not say you see your hispanic students, your black students,your diverse students if you get rid of DEI,” Romero said.
Graye Gosser, a student at Ball State, expresses his anxiety about the recent decisions made by administrators at the university.
Ball State gave Gosser a “community” and that he didn’t have the same experience back at home, he said. To him, seeing things like DEI incentives be removed changes his perspective on that.
Jackson Franklin, a candidate running for the 5th district congress seat, attended the protest because he wants to give a voice to marginalized communities and not let the Trump administration ‘roll over our students and campus.”
Franklin wants Mearns and the Board of Trustees to look around, see how the students won’t take this, and community members won’t take this either.
“I am not even a student, but here I am. I want to fight for student rights, “ he said “and we should not be discriminating and marginalized community,” Franklin said.
Contact Shelby Anderson and Linnea Sundquist via email at sanderson9@bsu.edu or linnea.sunquist@bsu.edu.
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