Although Chancellor Andrew Martin’s inauguration ceremony occurred on Thursday, Oct. 3, that didn’t stop the Washington University community from continuing to celebrate the momentous occasion. Students took the lead on Friday, with TEDxWUSTL hosting a speaker event sharing the inauguration theme: Momentum.

One year ago today, Jason Stockley was acquitted in the fatal shooting of Anthony Lavar Smith, thrusting St. Louis once again into the national spotlight amid a renewed debate about police brutality. The not-guilty verdict sent waves of anger and frustration across St. Louis and the nation—and it shed light on the issues of segregation, wealth disparity and violent crime that shape our city.

Washington University students hosted a protest in the Danforth University Center to denounce the recent Jason Stockley verdict, as well as police brutality toward black Americans more generally, Thursday, Sept. 21.

I am a white-passing, Christian, middle-class student with 13 years of Catholic education under my belt. I haven’t experienced real, systemic discrimination a single day in my life.

Protests broke out on the Delmar Loop Saturday following the acquittal of Jason Stockley, a white former St. Louis police officer who was found not guilty of murdering Anthony Lamar Smith, a 24-year-old black man, while on duty in December 2011.

I want to apologize on behalf of the Diversity Affairs Council for the time it has taken us to formally address the student body since the public release of the Jason Stockley verdict. I want the student body to know that the Diversity Affairs Council is here as a resource for you.

It’s long past time for you to be in the streets. Every single last one of you.