Students Bring New Ideas to NJIT For Black Lives Matter Movement

African-American students, backed by members of the faculty, said they will look to the college administration for help enacting new measures that could lead to more opportunities for Black people in NJIT classrooms and beyond.

The ideas, expressed in two virtual forums this month as part of a campus reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement, include creating a university task force on racism that would involve student members, forming a required class or seminar to educate new students on inclusion and actively increasing the number of Black professors.

Such efforts are necessary despite the large amount of ethnic and racial minorities on campus, student leaders said. Possibly the first Black graduate here was Robert Barney Newton, a mechanical engineer from the Newark College of Engineering class of 1926. Almost a century later, people of color are successful in all aspects of the Highlander community, yet some still encounter racism, the forum participants observed.

"We have this Black Lives Matter movement now, but in a couple of months from now people are going to forget. We can't let people forget," said Marissah McNeil, president of the Black Students Union. "It's time for a change. It really is. That's what I've come to realize."

McNeil, a junior from Maplewood studying applied mathematics, transferred from Hampton University which is a historically Black school in Virginia. At NJIT she noticed the disparity of white, Asian, and Hispanic students as compared to African-American students. Because of that, she's glad to see various student groups working together now. Her organization worked with the African Students Association, Caribbean Students Organization and NJIT chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers to organize their event on July 17.

"I was very satisfied with how it went," McNeil said. "Everyone had ideas and I felt like everyone felt comfortable with speaking their mind."

The role of a task force, as expressed in the student event, could be to establish a formal procedure for anyone in the NJIT community to report racist activity, clearly communicate the penalties for such activity, transparently report disciplinary actions so community members can feel safe and continuously organize events that promote not only diversity but active inclusion.

Other suggestions from the student-led forum included increased financial support for Black student groups, coursework in the contributions of African-Americans to scientific fields and administrative support for Black fraternal organizations. Additional ideas were to seek more opportunities similar to the Math Success Initiative where NJIT's minority students could mentor Newark school children, collaboration with inner-city organizations that provide resources for local residents, encouraging Black students to run for Student Senate positions and the formation of a campus book club focusing on subjects of social justice.

Jeffrey Reaves, an adjunct professor of engineering technology, told students to press forward until their goals are reached. "Right now is the time that you need to get out there. ... Look for the follow-up," Reaves told the forum participants. "Any race in this country that's being put down, we march with them. It should be white, Black, Asian. Every nationality should join in. Keep fighting because your ancestors did it and they're counting on you. When you look at the Highlander banner, it's supposed to do for you what it does for everybody else."

The university-led event, on July 8, began with President Joel S. Bloom commenting on the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. "When you saw what happened on TV, you just had to be angered, you had to be frustrated," he said, ahead of stating the discussion's thesis: "Are we doing everything we need to do on this campus to make sure we have racial justice?"

Students responded by recalling their own encounters with racism on campus, which they said usually happens in the form of off-the-cuff comments and being treated differently than white peers. Faculty asked for guidance on how to address racial topics in the classroom. Observations were made that social justice topics are just as important to science, technology, engineering and mathematics as they are to liberal arts. A suggestion was made that NJIT could offer positions to specific African-American faculty from other universities, rather than passively posting jobs and seeing who applies.

Dale McLeod, vice president of human resources, acknowledged that there were also offensive comments — “We’ve heard some positive and negative aspects of the climate,” he said, “and it underscores exactly why we're here.”