A student group at Rice University in Houston, Texas, is „demanding“ the administration fund a „non-residential Black House“ on campus, as well as the …
A student group at Rice University in Houston, Texas, is „demanding“ the administration fund a „non-residential Black House“ on campus, as well as the removal of a prominent statue of the university’s founder — and top student officials are deleting some comments disagreeing with those positions, Fox News has learned this week.
The extraordinary demand, and apparent censorship, came amid rising left-wing sentiment on campuses across the nation after the in-custody death of George Floyd. In recent weeks, a UCLA lecturer was suspended for pointedly refusing to cancel his exam for black students; a Cornell Law School faculty member was threatened with termination for criticizing Black Lives Matter, before the school dean intervened on his behalf; and a top University of Chicago economist was demoted for questioning the wisdom of defunding all police.
The call for a „Black House“ was made in a public Facebook post on Rice’s official Graduate Student Association (GSA) page, written by Rice graduate research assistant Dani Perdue. „Here are what black undergraduate students have demanded from Rice Universuty [sic] administration,“ Perdue wrote. „I hope they are listening! #NoMoreLipService #blacklivesmatter.“
The post also sought the „removal“ of an iconic statue of university founder William Marsh Rice; the hiring of „more black professors, faculty, well-being counselors and therapists“; the inclusion of „hate speech“ in Rice’s code of conduct; and an increase in the number of black students accepted to Rice.
An Instagram account representing the Rice Black Student Association (BSA) has published a longer list of demands, including that „If a Black new student requests to have a Black roommate [during orientation week], that request be honored.“
The students also seek „better lighting for ID photos,“ noting that „many Black students have had significant issues with the photographs that are displayed on our student IDs….
