The Diversity Affairs Council (DAC) recognizes the events of Tuesday night because we are students and representatives of the Washington University in St. Louis community. Our purpose is to foster a more inclusive campus environment and provide a connection between the student body and administration.

We are responding to the events that occurred on Tuesday night at Bear’s Den. On campus, the goal of the DAC is to ensure that every student at Washington University feels welcome and safe. This incident is a breach of that mission. It is our role to recognize that these occurrences negatively impact our entire community.

Although the official investigation is still underway, the fact remains that members of our community feel marginalized and hurt. While there are certain aspects of the incident that are still contested, what we must focus on is that this discriminatory act dehumanized and objectified our fellow students. This should not be tolerated at Washington University.

This is not an isolated event and cannot be solved by harsh disciplinary action alone. It is part of a reality that we face each day. Ignoring comments and actions that make people feel alienated has somehow become normalized. While everyone has a right to respond in his or her own way, attacking any member of our community, either in response to this event or in any other situation, is destructive.

Moving forward, we hope to use this strong hold on the community’s attention to work toward implementing measures and facilitating conversations that will address and rectify this situation. The responsibility does not fall on any one community to act, but rather, there must be a collective response on the part of the Washington University community as a whole. Thus, the Diversity Affairs Council is working to create an open space to discuss the campus climate and to form an action plan to begin improving the structure of our community.

If you would like to contact us regarding the steps we are taking to move forward, please contact the DAC chair, David Yang, at dac@su.wustl.edu.

The Diversity Affairs Council Cabinet

David Yang – Chair

Amee Azad – Director of Resources

Gabrielle Dinkin – Director of Diversity Training

Jacqui Germain – Director of Administrative Affairs

Tony Wang – Director of Public Relations