700 gather in the Performing Arts Center lawn
Students weaved through campus Monday, April 28, holding banners reading, “diversity is strength” and “love has no color” in a celebration of diversity on Western’s campus.
Students Danyal Lotfi, Heather Heffelmire and Mayra Guizar organized the march called “Day of Action, ‘Diversity Is.’ Approximately 700 students attended the rally, said Paul Cocke, director of university communications.
The rally was in response to protests on campus equating diversity with “white genocide” and the slew of negative media attention surrounding comments made by President Bruce Shepard, which were deemed “anti-white.”
Students met in the early afternoon at Wade King Student Recreation Center and marched across campus to the Performing Arts Center lawn where students, faculty and community members spoke.
Roxanne Murphy, a member of the Nooksack Indian Tribe, is the first minority member on the Bellingham City Council. Murphy was first elected to the City Council fall 2013. She expressed support for Shepard and saw the rally as a sign that diversity is on the rise at Western.
“[The rally] was ridiculously exciting,” Murphy said. “It really shows the volition of the entire student body.”
Murphy speaks out about the need to diversify Bellingham at every opportunity. When student organizers invited her to speak, she jumped at the chance to show her support for Western.
“When the college starts getting broader diversity, that gets more people experiencing our city and that gets more people, hopefully, aspiring to get jobs here,” Murphy said. “That’s one way [Western] can help diversify [Bellingham].”
One student-made banner read “diversity = us,” a direct response to the “diversity = white genocide” banner that protesters carried Saturday, April 19.
Megan Cook, a senior at Western, saw the rally from Wilson Library and decided to check it out.
Cook was surprised by the turnout and the amount of minority students who attended. She agrees with Shepard that Western would benefit from more diversity.
Western student Amina Shah was also surprised by the amount of ethnic students who attended. She didn’t realize Western was as diverse as it is and hopes more people see this side of the university.
Shah came to the rally with Yosan Kiflemariam. Both students said they are almost always the only students of color in their classes.
Increased diversity will help students see the world, and themselves, from a different perspective, Shah said.
Shah and Kiflemariam both support Shepard’s message that the minority populations are not accurately represented in the student body.
“He was just the first to speak out, so he got attacked,” Kiflemariam said. “That was courageous of him.”
Heffelmire was amazed by the turnout. She doesn’t have any plans for another event, but hopes that this event sparks independent movement from other students.
Anti-diversity activist responds to ‘Diversity Is’
By John Boone and Nick Thomas
Oregon resident Jimmy Marr was on campus during the diversity rally Monday, April 28, staging a counter-protest while holding a sign reading “diversity is a code word for white genocide.”
Increasing diversity can be equated to “soft genocide” in that it reduces the population of white people, Marr said.
“To take the anti-white buzzwords and configure them into the form of the swastika is a good symbolic way for me to get across my message,” Marr said.
Western student Ricky Wilson saw Marr during his protest.
While he understands freedom of speech, Wilson said he felt “very offended” by Marr and his sign.
“This wasn’t the time or place to bring that here,” Wilson said.
Marr was asked to leave Red Square by campus police to avoid conflict with the Diversity Is marchers, said Paul Cocke, director of university communications.
Marr is not formally linked to any outside organization, he said.
