Other reports in the works include the history of Black Greek life, Asian American students’ involvement in the antiwar protests in the 1970s and the long fight against campus housing discrimination that started in the 1940s.
“The first step is learning the history, and the second step is doing something about it,” Lucchini Butcher said. “So this wasn’t just, ‘Hey, research the history, make us a report and turn it in, and then go about your life.’ It was, ‘Do this history and help us transform this campus.’”
Steps toward healing
The university hasn’t always taken that approach, some said.
For example, some students blasted the university for its statement following the shooting of six Asian Americans in Atlanta earlier this year, saying administrators needed to do more than issue “bare minimum” statements and provide tangible resources.
Juliana Bennett, a UW-Madison senior who serves as the campus representative on the City Council, said she appreciates that staff have reached out to students of color to ask what they wanted to know about the university’s history.
“Knowing the history of UW is important to students of color because we should know what we are getting into,” she said. “With discrimination on campus, it’s not a new issue. It’s been going on since the inception of the university.”