dozens of law students Dalhousie University A voiceover experiences ongoing racist comments from a classmate walked out of class Thursday in an act of solidarity with peers.
“It is our duty as the future parliamentarians of our society to step out and speak up,” said Lorenz Cromwell, a first-year student at Schulich Law.
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After nearly two hours of discussion between students and members of the law faculty, Cromwell addressed a crowd of would-be lawyers.
Cromwell said, “We need to hold our heads high and take pride in the fact that we are not going to take this today sitting down.” “We are not going to sit down and take it tomorrow, a week after that. But this is an ongoing fight against systemic injustice.”
Danielle Hargreaves, a member of the Dalhousie Indigenous Law Students Association, says she and her colleagues have been dealing with microaggressions since starting the law program in September.
“Students stand in solidarity, faculty stand in solidarity, now the school needs to stand with us and make real, lasting change,” Hargreaves said.
While discrimination is noted in the Dalhousie student code of conduct, Hargreaves called the university’s lack of prompt response to the comments “disturbing”.
“Frankly, (the code of conduct) needs to be updated to reflect the values of the Wealden tradition and Dalhousie as a whole. That racism will not stand,” Hargreaves said. “It will not stand in the legal profession, it will not stand in the law. Won’t stand in school, and it won’t stand in university.”
A statement provided to Global News by the dean of the Schulich School of Law said that “the law school takes very seriously any issues related to racist behavior and the need to address it.”
“The Law School engages in dialogue to reach the goal of a safe, discrimination-free learning environment.”
The law students discussed with the faculty members for nearly two hours how to address concerns about the ‘ongoing casteist remarks’.
Megan King / Global News
Some attendees of Thursday’s meeting between students and faculty described the meeting as “unnecessary.”
“We’re getting a lot of ‘we’ll look into it,’ but this is something that’s been going on since October and needs to be looked at,” Hargreaves said.
She says no resolution or promise came out of Thursday’s meeting.
“What we need is a deep, meaningful apology and clear, transparent steps on what will be taken,” Hargreaves said. “Not only to address the issues that have occurred here today and over the past several months, but also to prevent these types of people from ever gaining a foothold on the ground here.”
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Dull Law students have come up with a list of ideas to improve discrimination response efforts, offering suggestions that include adopting professional standards, a mandatory undertaking upon admission and/or quick decision-making that safeguards This includes devolution of powers to the faculties. When complaints of others are registered.
Additionally, students are calling for greater transparency in the feedback process for filing complaints related to racism and discrimination, and during an appeals process.
The group says it wants to refer the matter to the school senate, along with the changes made by the school as a whole.
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