Disclaimer: Originally published on the St. Cloud State University campus paper, the University Chronicle on the Nov. 16 2009 issue. Written by Jun-Kai Teoh, Managing Online Editor.

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In 2003, SCSU was reported to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as sexist and racist. In 2007 swastikas were used as hate-speech on campus. And in early 2009 a poster of Dorothy Irene Height was vandalized.

Following the vandalizing of Height’s poster, a group of students defiantly stood up against racism and started an anti-racist movement called the “We Are One” SCSU Student Resistance Movement.

“I think it all stemmed from just wanting to be on the fight against racism and not the racist action,” social work junior Sara Schoborg said “kind of spin it positively as a fight against these things.”

Schoborg was one of the students in the class involved in setting up the poster that was later vandalized.

The class had found out about the act prior to their class, and after pooling their ideas together they started the “We Are One” movement.

As part of their push for anti-racism, they started a bulletin board for students to post their comments, a free dinner for students to intermingle with different cultures and presentations on anti-racism.

The movement also received support from the Student Government Association (SGA).

Ernest Langston, the Chairperson of the Cultural Diversity Committee, wrote a resolution condemning and denouncing the act.

Langston also attempted to invite Height to SCSU but the attempts did not work out.

“One act of violence or one act of hate, created many acts of kindness and goodness,” Langston said.

The “We Are One” movement had a short-lived run as most of the student organizers were brought together because they were classmates.

With the end of the Spring 2009 semester, the scheduling conflicts and time restrictions have slowed down the activities of the movement.

Even though the organization lacks a formal structure, students are still in talks of holding different activities to keep it alive.

There are talks of having the issue presented during freshmen orientation, getting Height onto campus and setting up a scholarship.

Schoborg said the experience gave her the feeling of being empowered to stand up for what she believes in.

Andrea Dohmen, another student organizer of the event, said she still thinks about what she could have done better with the movement every day.

“It was just a very positive, community building experience for a lot of people,” Langston said.

“Although it was short lived, a lot of people jumped on board and a lot of people were in the affirmative of it.”

The “We Are One” movement is currently accepting scholarship donations through www.stcloudstate.edu/foundation/waystogive.

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