Content Warning: This article contains references to hateful language directed toward minority groups.
Emory University’s Student Government Association (SGA) passed a resolution on Nov. 10 condemning graffiti, from Oct. 27, reading “KKK” on Oxford College’s campus. The resolution also addressed graffiti on former Religion Professor Rev. Hoyt Oliver’s (54Ox, 56C) memorial, calling it “disrespectful.” According to the resolution, SGA will release an official statement condemning the incident to the Emory community. SGA President Tyler Martinez (26C) told The Emory Wheel that this message will be sent on Nov. 14.
In addition to condemning the graffiti, SGA’s resolution also calls upon the University's leadership and the Emory Police Department to conduct a “full, transparent investigation.” Before this call for a full investigation, on Oct. 28, former Oxford College Dean Badia Ahad, who now serves as provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs, and Senior Associate Dean of Campus Life Darleny Cepin announced an investigation into the incident in an email sent to the Oxford community.
SGA’s resolution highlights Emory’s connection to the displacement of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation people from their ancestral lands and the believed use of enslaved individuals to construct Phi Gamma Hall and Few Hall on Oxford’s campus. The resolution states that confronting this history is necessary to foster “equity, accountability, and restorative justice” within the Emory community.
Martinez, Executive Vice President Zoe Grotjan (24Ox, 26B) and co-Vice Presidents of Student Experience Ameer Alnasser (25Ox, 27C) and Michael Krayyem (26C) sponsored the resolution. The resolution’s sponsors collaborated with the Oxford Student Government Association, which passed a resolution on Oct. 29 denouncing the incident.
Martinez said the purpose of the resolution was to condemn the incident at Oxford and foster action to build a more just Emory community.
“To address racism, we have to engage with our University’s history in it and learn more about it, but also learn about how we can promote resources that actively address that,” Martinez said.
Krayyem echoed Martinez’s thoughts, emphasizing that there is a need for the Emory community to take concrete action to make change.
“We are going to take directive action to foster education and foster improvement here and ensure that these actions don’t occur in the future,” Krayyem said.
The resolution specifies that SGA will help organize an “educational and commemorative event” next semester to raise awareness of the Twin Memorials project. The purpose of the Twin Memorials project, which the University announced in 2021, is to honor enslaved individuals and their descendants who helped to “build, maintain, and grow Emory.”
“The Twin Memorials project actively seeks to address acts of racism on campus,” Martinez said. “I just hope that students find engaging with the project useful, also enlightening.”
In response to the graffiti at Oxford and Emory ending its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, Krayyem said there is an ongoing need to take action to combat racism and discrimination, at Emory and within the United States.
“The Civil Rights Movement is fundamental to Atlanta, it’s fundamental to Emory University, it’s fundamental to the United States of America,” Krayyem said. “It’s a process that we are currently watching unravel, and it’s a process that we need to improve upon, because racism, anyone can see, is still prevalent in the United States.”
If you or someone you know experienced hateful language or slur use, you can call the Emory Police Department at (404) 727-6111 or reach Emory’s Counseling and Psychological Services at (404) 727-7450 or https://counseling.emory.edu/. You can reach the Atlanta Police Department at (404) 614-6544 and the Lines for Life Racial Equity Support Line from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. at (503) 575-3764. You can reach the Trevor Project’s LGBTQ crisis support services 24/7 by calling +1 (866) 488-7386, texting “START” to 678-678 or visiting https://www.thetrevorproject.o....
