The zoom hack that occurred during the virtual Black History Month event on February 15 has prompted efforts to raise awareness on safety for people of color at the University of Wyoming. Students have spoken on President Seidel’s email that was sent out on February 17 to address the issue.
“The words that were spoken felt extremely empty,” Jaida Cooper, a student at the university, said. “They felt like they were said before and used again for this instance. The thing that should have been mentioned is a call to action. Students need to know that things are going to be put structurally into place so racist incidents don’t happen again to students of color.”
“The message did not describe how vulgar it was and how frustrated people were in the community,” student Janessa Miller-Gallegos said. “It was a very broad message, and it was kind of like they were covering up the full extent of the issue. I was a little disappointed with that and how long it took to get that message out.”
Melanie Vigil, senior project coordinator for multicultural affairs at UW, said that attacks like these have occurred at multiple different campuses.
“UW is not the first campus to experience racism on an online format, but it is deeply disturbing and reprehensible nonetheless,” Vigil said. “Multicultural Affairs stands in solidarity with students, staff, and faculty of color who were subjected to what occurred on Monday night. As a lesbian Latina who grew up in the State of Wyoming and call this place home, I was disturbed to learn of what took place on February 15.”
The ongoing investigation by UW Information Technology and UWPD found that four of the five attackers used VPN services located in the U.S. and Germany to hide their true whereabouts.
“We’re glad that is the case, but it does not reduce our outrage at this vile occurrence — nor the imperative for us to take action to address problems with racism in our community. And we commit to holding members of our campus accountable if further investigation uncovers a UW connection,” Chief Diversity Officer Emily Monago said in a recent email to the UW community.
These findings have been questioned by students who believe that this virtual event would be difficult to find for people who are not members of the UW community.
“I feel like the claim that the attackers were not students could have been kept to themselves,” Cooper said. “VPNs exist and I do believe that they were used, but to claim they weren’t students without the full investigation being implemented will fall back and damage the university if they [the attackers] are proven to be students.”
“I do believe that this was an individual who is either part of the community or part of the institution,” Miller-Gallegos said. “Not many people know of Wyoming as a whole, and I don’t believe that there are people outside of this state that would care enough to join a meeting like this unless they knew that it was occurring and that it was on the UW African American Studies Facebook page.”
In light of this offensive attack, Cooper and Miller-Gallegos discussed important steps for the university to take in order to make the institution a safer and more welcoming environment for students of color.
“The university needs to have more action than words. One thing I do recommend is Black counselors,” Cooper said. “Black students should be able to talk to counselors who understand their backgrounds and the trauma they go through. It is important to support Black people by learning our history and the systems built against us to this day. Until you understand those things, you won’t understand this particular instance and how much it affects us.”
“Nothing is going to change unless there is a collective body of students who care enough about this to change something,” Miller-Gallegos said. “Moving on, we need to start having these anti-hate discussions. It is an ugly reality, and there needs to be more awareness. We do have diversity at this school, and these kids aren’t being protected. The best way to protect them is by educating people.”
Vigil said Multicultural Affairs offers two weekly programs for students of color and LGBTQ students. The Student of Color Circle occurs on Wednesday’s from 12 to 1 p.m. and the LGBTQIA+ Circle is Thursday’s from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m.
“Our circles are a great opportunity for students to connect with one another. Please email uwma@uwyo.edu to get involved,” Vigil said.
President Seidel and UW Black Studies Center Director Frederick Douglass Dixon are hosting a virtual panel discussion and campus town-hall meeting on Wednesday, February 24 at 6 p.m.
