Students and teachers organized an on campus teach-in on Jan. 24 in an effort to educate their peers on racial issues. The Eagle applauds these students, many of whom are part of a loose movement known as The Darkening, for their commendable efforts to continue discussion about racism among the student body.
AU is a campus where a lot of people feel very strongly about a lot of issues. The Darkening’s protests and teach-in are wonderful ways to encourage education about issues of racism that much of AU’s student body may not be aware of, but they may only be preaching to the choir.
The 200 people that attended Saturday’s teach-in were probably not the ones who really needed it. To really foster the necessary amounts of change on campus, we need to go further. Programs like these need to visit classrooms or become mandatory in some way, before all students can truly learn from them.
The students that set up this teach-in can treat it as a dress rehearsal, as they get more members of Student Government and other campus leaders to participate. Then, these leaders can bring the word back to their organizations.
Teach-ins are an interesting component of learning and campus life that feel more fresh than the traditional classroom experience, and they could be enormously beneficial to all kinds of AU students.
The students that organized this teach-in have made incredible first steps. They are a fantastic model for exactly how productive activism should work. Now, for them to truly make an impact, they need to move beyond opt-in events and make compulsory multicultural education a part of every AU student’s life.
