In response to the aftermath of recent events at Missouri and Yale University regarding racism on campus, NYU Shanghai held a blackout Tuesday, November 24th, where students volunteered to wear all black clothing to promote solidarity with students of color. Students across the United States have demonstrated their support, re-amping the Black Lives Matter campaign on campus by facilitating respectful debate, handing out pamphlets, and holding meetings to start student dialogue on racial issues. To summarize, over the past few months the University of Missouri, otherwise known as Mizzou, a school with an overwhelmingly white student body, has been battling problems with racial inclusion and systemized racism. The student government president, who is black, and members of the Legion of Black Collegians were called racial epithets on campus, and many black students reportedly felt unsafe walking to class. Students also discovered a swastika drawn with human feces in a bathroom. Although a number of students sent Mizzou’s President Tim Wolfe emails concerning their safety on campus, Wolfe did not take any active stance on the issue, which sparked a series of protests and peace rallies that were largely ignored by the administration. Eventually, a graduate student, who went by the pseudonym Concerned Student 1950, started a hunger strike, demanding that the President step down. In addition, the school's football team boycotted their game, in protest of Mr. Wolfe's lack of actions. Now, the university has announced plans for required diversity training for all new students in January. While NYU Shanghai is an institution that promotes diversity and humanity at its core, as students represent over 60 different countries, systemized racism as seen at Mizzou and countless other universities is still an issue that needs to be discussed in and outside the classroom. “This is a conversation that NYU must be a part of, as there is still much work to be done here when it comes to creating a culture of inclusivism — a culture that values diversity,” Michael Hengerer, Chair of Student Senators Council, wrote in a mass email to the NYU community. On November 12, NYU New York held an on-campus meeting about Diversity and Inclusiveness, but NYU Shanghai has yet to hold its own. The closest we have come to this was last year's Forum on Diversity during Ally Week, which was mostly attended by faculty, and organizing students.“NYU Shanghai [is] promoting diversity and because this is such an international school, it’s important for all students to understand how important it is not to judge someone and to have this equal balance and to not feel neglected from any situation, “said Maurice Reid Jr., a senior studying abroad from NYU who helped coordinate the Tuesday Blackout. “The Black Lives Matter initiative within the last three years is a campaign in American that promotes [the awareness] of racial discrepancies and what’s going on here is that we are increasing awareness and promoting diversity and if we can do it here now then we can prevent these problems for happening in the future at NYU Shanghai.” The Blackout took place in the cafeteria, where students set up tables and answered questions about Mizzou, Yale, and Black Lives Matter while handing out pamphlets titled: 上纽大 Blackout. “NYU Shanghai may seem thousands of miles away from the issues of Mizzou, but we are not,” the pamphlet read. “Although we have one of the most diverse student bodies in terms of numbers, achieving true diversity means respecting and caring about the concerns and issues of others—whether it be our classmates at NYU Shanghai, students from other universities, or citizens across the globe.” While the Blackout was met with widespread support, some casual student conversation seemed to hinder its efforts. The meeting for diversity and inclusiveness in New York was organized by the Black Student Union, and some NYU Shanghai students asked rhetorically in the halls: “Why don’t we make a White Student Union?” Others were criticized for not wearing any or not enough black clothing when the Blackout initiative was clearly voluntary. There was also some heated debate on social media platforms such as Facebook about the inclusivity of the Black Lives Matter campaign itself, as certain individuals felt neglected because the campaign only addressed “people of color". However, it is impressive to note that NYU Shanghai organized the event without a Black Student Union, as NYU Shanghai does not currently have one. The NYU Shanghai Blackout is only the first step towards instigating change and achieving a safe learning environment for all students, according to sophomore Branden Taylor, another Blackout coordinator. “As far as other ways of showing [solidarity], right now we are in the works of making a club so we’ve gathered everyone’s email on a list and maybe we are going to try to get some collaboration from other clubs… And it's very important because a lot of the students here, especially the Chinese, have no idea about the [racial] issues going on in the US—and say they want to study abroad in New York. They’re going to run into these issues and not know how to discuss them, so we want to give these students information so they can start a dialogue among themselves while also breaking down cultural barriers.” This article was written by Maeve Lazor. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: NYU Shanghai.