The 25 or so students who attended the roundtable split into committees devoted to specific areas of campus life, including Washington University Police Department (WUPD) affairs, on-campus student awareness, Residential Life, student group interaction and off-campus affairs.

Students in the taskforce on WUPD affairs debated whether some students’ allegations that WUPD officers approach black students more than white ones means the officers are guilty of racial profiling.

While the group did not reach a conclusion, group members agreed that reports of suspicious activity filed by students against other students are a major contributor to WUPD stopping black students more often.

Members of the group said they would like to initiate dialogue between WUPD and students regarding methods of identifying suspicious persons, and also explored the idea of a “walk in your shoes” orientation program in which students would learn about the differences that race makes in daily life.

The “on-campus awareness” taskforce was primarily concerned with the issue of self-segregation in the student body. Group members said they hoped to break down what they termed the “fishbowl” phenomenon: a tendency for important conversations about race issues to remain confined to racially or ethnically homogenous groups.

“I know that as an African American male I have particular conversations with other African American males on campus that pretty much we keep amongst ourselves,” said senior Regis Murayi, one of the six black students rejected from Mothers bar.

The task force proposed mediating conversations about self-segregation on freshman floors. Members of the group also plan to develop initiatives to draw a greater and more diverse body of students to events like Monday night’s roundtable to engage students who might otherwise be uninvolved in the dialogue about diversity issues.

Like the on-campus awareness task force, the ResLife committee offered a plan to spur more diversity dialogue on freshman floors by designing special programming to be led by residential advisors. Group members also planned a conference with Residential Life about making ethnic and racial diversity a priority when forming freshman floors.

The student group interaction taskforce envisioned working with Student Union to create an incentive program that rewards collaboration between student groups. It also proposed the development of a multicultural retreat in which students from diverse backgrounds would bond over a variety of recreational and discussion-based activities.

Members of the off-campus taskforce expressed a desire to raise awareness of racial and class implications of policy decisions behind recent MetroLink service cuts. The taskforce hopes to launch a visual campaign to make the faces of St. Louis residents affected by the service cuts more visible to students.

Senior De Nichols, co-president of Connect 4, said her group would facilitate further meetings of the taskforces created at Monday night’s roundtable to lay out more concrete action steps. The organization hopes that this event will be a first step in empowering passionate students to turn thoughts into action.

Said junior Wanda Savala, Connect 4’s other co-president, “[Students] will start something but they don’t really feel supported. We need to rally those students who are doing something, who have ideas.”

The turnout for the roundtable was short of Connect 4’s expectations, paling in comparison to the more than 300 students who filled Lab Sciences 300 for the town hall meeting.

The large gap in the turnout between the town hall meeting and Monday’s roundtable elicited concerns from some that the enthusiasm exhibited by the general student body in recent weeks will not last as the Mothers bar incident fades into the past.

“[The turnout] kind of made me question how passionate, how committed students are to affecting change in this area,” Nichols said.

Nonetheless, she said she was confident that a smaller group of students would continue to converse and act on race and diversity issues.

“Quite honestly, I am a very optimistic, faithful person,” she said. “The rational side of me says that people are gonna let this die, but I think we have a committed body of students who won’t let this die out.”

The ADL contacted the group of six black students three days after the original incident to offer them access to the organization’s infrastructure and advocacy from the group. This was unusual, as most people with a complaint need to contact the ADL before it will consider a case.

In this case, however, a parent of a University student was an ADL board member in Houston, and according to ADL Chicago regional director Lonnie Nasatir, “it kind of came through the ranks.”

For the students from Washington University, the support came as a welcome surprise.

“I was surprised because I hadn’t contacted them,” said Fernando Cutz, senior class president. “I was just really grateful they reached out.”

The ADL first asked the students if they would be interested in the organization writing a coalition letter to be circulated among civil rights groups in Chicago. The organization then hand-delivered a letter to the bar last Friday. This prompted the first response from Mothers. According to Cutz, the ADL “was certainly a major part in that reaction.” The group also helped the students find free legal counsel.

The Anti-Defamation League is a non-profit organization focused on fighting anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry.

“It goes back to that notion that if one minority group is targeted, we all are targeted, and that we can really be much more effective in a broad way than if we just sort of stick within our own communities,” said Karen Aroesty, the St. Louis regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.

In cases of racist activity, however, the wrong that must be rectified is not the act itself, but the sentiment behind it. The impetus behind wrongful acts such as turning customers away from an establishment because of their race begins long before these acts take place.

It is therefore necessary—and appropriate—that the settlement announced this Wednesday between the Original Mothers bar and the six Washington University seniors it turned away on the basis of race does not involve punitive financial damages but rather mandates direct participation in diversity awareness training for the employees of the bar. Because racist acts begin with ingrained prejudices, these prejudices must be removed—layer by layer—if the inherent wrongness of the action is to genuinely be rectified.

I am certain that some will criticize the settlement, saying that it is not harsh enough, that a lawsuit demanding punitive damages is justified, that Mothers bar ought to be put out of business because of its actions.

Such a lawsuit, though, would localize the incident and limit the dialogue that it has the potential to create. As members of our community discussed at the Town Hall meeting on Monday, and as several students have alluded to in comments on the Student Life Web site, the fact that students were turned away from a club because of their race was not surprising. The Mothers incident speaks to a larger problem—one that no amount of money could rectify, and one that putting a single nightclub out of business could hardly make a dent in.

The fact is that racism still exists in our society. It exists, however, in ingrained prejudices that cannot legally be manifested, thanks to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and subsequent civil rights legislation.

The great civil rights battle of our generation will not be fought on legal grounds, but rather on social grounds; it is only when owners of nightclubs do not associate gang activity with race that justice will truly be served. This is perhaps a utopian vision, but I believe that it is a goal worth striving for.

By forcing the bar to sponsor fundraisers for socially just causes, and by forcing its employees to undergo diversity training, the settlement begins to rectify a larger social wrong than what happened to the “Mothers Men” last weekend.

In her column this Wednesday, Eve Samborn wrote that we ought to take the response to this incident as a model for student activism. Knowing how the response has played out in legal terms, I’d like to take this prescription a step further: We ought to take the response to this incident as a model of how to resolve acts motivated by prejudice.

The apology to be issued by Mothers should retract the racist sentiments behind the bar’s action. The diversity awareness education programming should force its employees to formulate other, more appropriate, ways of thinking about the relationship between race and culture.

The six students who negotiated this settlement demonstrated an admirable capacity to look past the problem at hand and ensure that the incident creates a larger dialogue about race and social justice. Hearing Wednesday’s news made me proud to be a member of the Wash. U. community.

Kate is a junior in Arts & Sciences. She can be reached via e-mail at kate.gaertner@studlife.com.

The Association of Black Studentss, Connect4 and the Senior Class Council are hosting a town hall-style forum tonight to address students’ reactions to the alleged discrimination that took place at the Original Mothers Bar during the senior class trip to Chicago two weeks ago. The forum is meant as an opportunity for the students involved to tell their story and to deal with some of the larger issues at play in the controversy. Student Life will be live blogging from the forum in LabSci 300.

10:02 p.m. | Signing Off: The forum just wrapped up and students are slowly filing out, though a significant number are hanging around to continue the discussion. This concludes our live coverage of the town hall, but check StudLife.com later tonight for full coverage of the forum.

9:55 p.m. | Thanking Fernando: Iboro Umana makes a point of thanking Senior Class Council President Fernando Cutz for his hard work and Cutz receives a standing ovation.

9:52 p.m. | Closing Words: Cutz says that the Senior Class Council will be meeting tonight to discuss the recommendations from the forum and to formulate their “demands to Mother’s. On Wednesday, Cutz says that Student Union Senate will be taking up this issue. Iboro Umana takes the microphone back to wrap up with a message to students: “We have so much unlimited potential,” said Umana. “If you see something going on, I challenge you to take part in it.”

9:45 p.m. | Be Creative: “We need to demand that they write an anti-discrimination policy, and they need to post it outside of their bar,” and they need to be accountable to that policy said senior Nikki Spencer. She went on to say that the University has an opportunity to create tools for people who are not students to take advantage of and to make Mother’s an innovator in solving the problem.

9:41 p.m. | What one who was discriminated against wants: Senior Chuka Chike-Obi said that “I’m very happy with the amount of support we’ve gotten from my friends and from across the country…It’s hard for me to be in this position and talk about what I want because part of me was hurt and part of me wants to lash out.” He then continued that “It’s very easy for those of us in this institution to become comfortable…and one of the things I think is to show that it happens to all African American males.  The second thing is that I want to show Mother’s and all the places, not just bar and restaurants, that this is not acceptable.  When Mother’s did this they did not expect this to happen. And the next thing is I want those who get discriminated across the world on a daily basis not to internalize it but to feel like they can fight back.”

9:38 p.m. | Take it to the courts: Senior Natacha Lam said, “There is no demand that I think could make this stop. Money would be nice. Making them train could be fun, but there is no demand that should make this stop.  We need to take this to the courts.”

9:36 p.m. |A time out for Mother’s: One student told the auditorium, “I don’t know if a thing like counseling for racism exists, but Mother’s Bar needs to sit down and think about what they did…I’m flabbergasted that an apology hasn’t been given because the first step is admitting that you have a problem.”

9:32 p.m. | What’s The Real Issue?: Senior Nadia Mann is asking the room what the core issues at play are—the most infuriating thing to her has been that people cannot grasp what the magnitude of the problem is. “People keep asking why this matters and that’s the issue that’s really at hand here,” she said.

9:27 p.m. | Remembering beyond college: “The worst thing I think that could happen is for us to forget about it three years,” one student says. He went on to say that when the students have graduated this conversation needs to go on.

9:25 p.m. | Our Money is Our Vote: Senior Audrey King suggests that seniors’ money should be returned. Another student suggested that the money go toward education.

9:20 p.m. | How Could Mother’s Make it Up?: According to Cutz, attorneys from Mother’s Ball reached out to him earlier today looking to know what they could do to help make the situation better and alleviate the media storm. Cutz posed the question to the room: What could Mother’s do to make up for this?

9:15 p.m. | Acting in Our Own Community: Students are discussing whether the community’s response should focus on Mother’s in Chicago or whether it should focus on the local St. Louis community and discrimination broadly. “It’s absolutely necessary that we reach out to the people who don’t want to have this conversation,” said one graduate student.

9:13 p.m. | More than an apology: One student who witnessed the even says that he wants “One, an apology, but not only an apology. I want an admittance that this was racism.”

9:09 p.m. | More protests- A Junior asked is there is another protest planned, as she could not be a part of the first one. Fernando Cutz answered that “We would be open for discussion on whether you would be open to that tonight.”

9:04 p.m.| Punishment for Mother’s: The moderator asked “What, in your world, would you like to see done to Mother’s Bar?”

9:00 p.m. | What’s Next?: The conversation is shifting toward what the student body should do next. Cutz is recapping what has happened so far: Chancellor Wrighton wrote a letter to Mayor Daley calling for an investigation and Northwestern University has been involved with the discussion (a reporter from the Daily Northwestern is at the forum)

8:58 p.m. | “A seriously large pitcher of lemonade”: “Never underestimate the power of a Washington University education,” Karen Aroeste the Anti-Defamation League said. “You do have an opportunity to turn lemons into a seriously large pitcher of lemonade,” she added before telling students “I would think carefully before you decide operate, because the nature of civil rights cases is that you still take it on the chin.”

8:56 p.m. | Civil Rights groups reaching out: Fernando Cutz speaks about the Anti-Defamation League and how they were the first group to reach out after the incident.

8:49 p.m. | A “microcosm of the real problem”: One student said that, “We can sit here all day and be angry about six guys being rejected from a bar—and I support you guys totally—while there are 50,000 black men in East St. Louis getting rejected from society.”

8:49 p.m. | The Discussion Heats Up—In Cyberspace: The discussion in the room is heating up as the topic of conversation begins to turn toward life Washington University. At the same time, there is a very lively discussion of the forum happening on Twitter—a number of students are posting live updates from the forum to the social networking site. The online participants include @jdherg, @lyricist3 and @brittneyroetzel.

8:46 p.m. |Self-Segregation at Wash.U: “Maybe we need to look in the mirror and see what we perpetuate before we condemn someone else for what they’ve done,” one student said.

8:44 p.m.| Interracial Association: One student says she is not surprised about the Chicago incident as “It happens all the time. I’ve seen it happen on campus.”  She says that as a white woman she doesn’t have to deal with it but “it’s important to realize that even associating iwth black people can still be an issue even at Wash. U.”

8:38 p.m.| Is student Leadership important: “I do have a problem with some of the fliers that were put up. I knew some of these men personally, and I know that they are exceptional student leaders. But this wasn’t about whether they were student leaders, this was because they were black…and I don’t want this to turn into a class issue.” – Washington University student.

8:33 p.m.| Student’s react: Multiple students reacted as dismayed by what their peers went through, but extremely proud of their school

8:28 p.m | International Coverage: The New Zealand Journal is the first international news organization to cover the Mother’s incident.

8:26 p.m. | The F.B.I. is On The Case: Fernando Cutz confirms that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun a formal investigation of the incident at Mother’s Bar. According to Cutz, Representative William Clay (D-MO) will be submitting a letter to the F.B.I. tomorrow asking them to expedite their investigation. Cutz also reiterated that Mother’s is in the process of conducting its own internal investigation.

Senior Class President Fernando Cutz speaks at a town hall forum on the Mother's Bar incident. (Sam Guzik | Student Life)

8:24 p.m. | Why No Walk Out: Senior Class President Fernando Cutz  takes responsibility for the decision not to hold a walk out, stating worries that people “weren’t level headed and that it could escalate the situation.”

8:22 p.m. | The Mother’s Men Speak: The six Washington University students who were denied access to Mother’s Original Bar are now telling their story. Senior class Treasurer Regis Murayi presented the story and has handed the microphone off to Senior class president Fernando Cutz.

8:10 p.m. | Presentation Has Begun: The lights have dimmed and a PowerPoint presentation is running right now with news clips from stories about the Mother’s Men from the past several days. So far Student Life and the Chicago Tribune have featured prominently—as well as the CNN story that brought the incident into the national spotlight. The room is entirely silent.

(Sam Guzik | Student Life)

8:03 p.m. | Just Getting Started: The auditorium is about three-quarters full (the total capacity of the room is 400) and students continue to mill in. Rob Wild is in attendance and there are news crews from a number of TV stations.

If you have any questions that you would like to see answered during the live blog, post them to the comments section or reply to @StudLife on Twitter.

Correction (10/27/09, 9:49 a.m.):
In an earlier version of this post, Representative William Clay was mistakenly referred to as Representative Henry Clay. Student Life regrets the error.

Seniors Regis Murayi (left) and Jordan Roberts (right)wear the same pair of jeans. Murayi was told he could not enter a Chicago bar because he violated its ban on baggy jeans. He then switched jeans with Roberts, and Roberts was admitted into the bar. Murayi says the bar discriminated against him because he is black. (Courtesy of Fernando Cutz)

Complaints about alleged race discrimination by a Chicago bar against six black Washington University students have prompted state and federal investigations and a likely lawsuit to be filed by the students against the bar.

The developments came in the week after the incident, which occurred during a senior class trip night out at the Original Mothers bar in a popular nightspot downtown. Senior Class Council had made prior arrangements with the bar for some 200 seniors to go there.

The investigations, which include an FBI inquiry, are a result of complaints filed by Regis Murayi, one of the students denied entry into the bar on Oct. 17. Murayi, treasurer of Senior Class Council, filed complaints with the Chicago Commission on Human Rights, the Illinois attorney general’s office and the U.S. Department of Justice.

In the complaints, Murayi alleged that the bar’s refusal to admit the students constituted discrimination under the Chicago Municipal Code, which prohibits places of public accommodations from discriminating against clientele based on race. Race discrimination is also a federal offense under Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Murayi said the manager of Mothers told him and the other students that they could not enter the bar because they were violating the bar’s ban on baggy jeans. But Murayi said the manager admitted white students wearing baggy jeans. To prove this, Murayi changed jeans with senior Jordan Roberts, a white student, and Roberts was then admitted into the bar wearing the jeans.

Murayi said he thinks the six were discriminated against not because of their jeans but because they were a large group of black men.

“The bar racially discriminated against us and automatically assumed that we were dangerous,” Murayi said.

Representatives from Mothers declined to be interviewed this weekend by Student Life but said in a news release that the bar “does not discriminate against guests or patrons on the basis of race, and would never tolerate discriminatory conduct.” Mothers said it is conducting an investigation into the case and will take disciplinary action if necessary.

Mothers representatives also told the Chicago Tribune Friday that the students were rejected because of security concerns, not racism. Mothers’ human resource manager, Dan Benson, said a security photograph showed that two of the students had been wearing backward baseball caps, which are associated with gangs. Benson said gang violence is common in the area near the bar.

Murayi disputed that his clothing suggested he was in a gang. Murayi said he was well dressed, wearing a peacoat, loafers and a button-down shirt. He offered to show his Washington University IDs as proof of enrollment.

Benson also noted in the Tribune that other black patrons had been admitted into the bar. Murayi said this does not change his opinion that the bar discriminated against the students on the basis of their race.

“In and of itself that’s racial in that they automatically assumed that we were a gang,” Murayi said.

Now, Murayi and the other five black students are preparing to take legal action against the bar. Murayi said a number of lawyers have offered to take up their case for free, and the students are currently working to select a candidate.

Murayi and the others are seeking to be compensated for out-of-pocket, emotional distress and punitive damages, as well as the suspension of licensing to Mothers.

“We want to hurt them financially moving forward,” Murayi said.

University officials and students are also taking action against the bar.

Chancellor Mark Wrighton wrote a letter to Mayor Richard Daley on Thursday in which he expressed his “most intense disappointment” about the incident.

“I can only imagine the humiliation and discouragement these six young students felt last weekend when they were turned away from this establishment because of their race,” Wrighton wrote.

Wrighton called the incident a “setback for the City” of Chicago and requested that Daley respond.

Student Union also issued a resolution last Wednesday condemning Mother’s actions and urging further on-campus discussion. The Association of Black Students, Connect 4 and the Senior Class Council organized a town hall forum that will feature professors, students and others at 8 p.m. Monday in Lab Sciences 300.

With additional reporting by Michelle Stein and Johann Qua Hiansen