MUST READ!!!----Kalamazoo College students rally over concerns about racism, push for intercultural center

Kalamazoo College students rally over concerns about racism, push for intercultural center | MLive.com:
"KALAMAZOO, MI -- The Kalamazoo College Board of Trustees and administrators on Saturday heard from about 100 students who expressed concerns about marginalization, racism and safety at the college and made a case for creation of an intercultural center on campus.
"I keep getting texts from my parents saying 'You can come home whenever you want,'" K-College senior Valerie Alagon said emotionally, as she spoke in an auditorium on the campus of the private, liberal arts college. "But this is my fight."
"I can't leave these students," she added, looking at the college's faculty, administration and Board of Trustees.
"It's not just about physical safety, but being supported and listened to."
Nearly 100 K-College students marched through the Weimer Hicks Student Center auditorium Saturday morning to share their personal experiences with trustees and college administrators, including the president.
The rally came a few days after what K-College officials called a "racist, anti-Semitic, sexist and homophobic" entry was posted online on the Student Commission Google Doc.
The entry also included a direct threat: 
"At 900AM 3/5/15 I am going to start systematically executing faculty at Kalamazoo U, that will teach them the value of campus carry."

...There they pleaded, shouted and cried out for the creation of an intercultural center to be built during the 2015-16 school year. 
The students also pushed for increased transparency from the college regarding intercultural and diversity research and planning, as well as anti-racism training for all faculty, staff administrators, and student leaders.
The intercultural center, said student Willina Cain, would be a place where anyone could gather and be protected from harassment.
"It's hard, you know, just going to the cafeteria, eating and hearing racist people be ignorant," Cain said.
"With an intercultural center, I wouldn't have to hear racist people mock Mike Brown the day after (his death)."
"I'd just be eating in the center, you know."
..."I think our students are forced to handle race experiences on campus on their own," Brock said. "That's unfair and ... harmful to the (students') psyche."
..."I think K-College has diversified over the years, but physical diversity is not enough, given the fact that institutionalized racism exists," Brock said....