Photo by Michael Galkovsky
In response to the killing of Bowie student Richard Collins III on the University of Maryland’s College Park campus, new and returning students will have to take a pledge this fall to reaffirm “core values of respect for human dignity, diversity, inclusion, and academic freedom,” according to the school’s president Wallace Loh.
The “Pledge of Respect and Unity” is part of the latest iteration of action steps that Loh announced on Thursday following reactions from faculty, staff, students, and alumni.
The plans follow the death of Collins, who was a black student at Bowie State University visiting friends at UMD on May 20 when he was fatally stabbed by 22-year-old Sean Urbanski.
According to charging documents, Collins was waiting for an Uber when Urbanski began screaming for him to step out of the way “if you know what’s best for you.” After Collins said no, Urbanski stabbed him in the chest.
The murder took place two days after Collins was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He was slated to graduate from BSU on May 23.
The FBI and local police are investigating the incident as a possible hate-bias crime after finding out that Urbanski, who is white, is part of a Facebook group called “Alt-Reich: Nation” that posts racist content.
Last week, Loh announced his first set of changes at UMD, including creating a “rapid-response team” to support victims of hate-bias instances, giving $100,000 to the school’s office of diversity and inclusion to support educational efforts, and creating an annual report of all hate-bias incidents that take place on campus.
Three days after Collins’ murder, WAMU reported that there were 25 reported hate bias incidents on the campus since 2015. These include two incidents in which white nationalist flyers were posted around campus and the discovery of a noose hanging in the kitchen of a fraternity house last month. Current and former UMD students shared their campus experiences with racism and hate using the hashtag #FearTheTurtle.
Leaders of the ProtectUMD Coalition—which they say represents a major part “of the marginalized undergraduate students” on campus—say that to the best of their knowledge, Loh released the first set of action steps without input from a single student or diversity related offices on campus, even though they’ve repeatedly asked to be included in such plans.
The coalition wrote in a response letter to Loh’s plan that they would like the university to officially define hate speech incidents as cult activity as outlined in the school’s bylaws. They also ask for a “zero-tolerance policy” for these hate-bias incidents, which “can have deadly ramifications, as we have unfortunately seen, and should be addressed with equally severe punishment.”
Among other requests, the students also wanted a taskforce mandated by Loh to include a student from ProtectUMD as co-chair and at least 50 percent of the force be led by the group’s members who are able to have “a significant amount of legislative power.”
Loh stated in his updates on Thursday that officials will clarify codes of student conduct to “strengthen sanctions for hate and bias” and “carefully consider the enactment of stiffer sanctions when conduct is found to be motivated by hate or bias.”
And he said in the coming weeks, he will announce the chairs and members of the task force, who will begin a comprehensive review of UMD policies and procedures related to bias, hate, and campus safety starting this summer.
