Eastman students, faculty members, and staff members wearing t-shirts with the message “We’re Better Than That” for the University’s anti-racism campaign on Monday in Lowry Hall.
By John Fatuzzo
This past Monday, March 21, was recognized by the United Nations as the International Day for the Elimination of Racism. Taking part in the message of the day, students, faculty, and staff members from across the University of Rochester River Campus and Eastman School of Music participated in the university’s anti-racism campaign, “We’re Better Than THAT”, by donning gray t-shirts with the guiding message.
The mission statement from the campaign’s website reads, “Racism and hate speech have no place at the University of Rochester. We aspire to be a community whose members are equally valued and respected.”
The message was resounding all over campus: More than 900 shirts were ordered by 22 departments across the university. Additionally, over 1,000 shirts, 1,000 buttons, and 10,000 stickers were ordered to be given away to students.
Throughout this semester and in the future, the “We’re Better than THAT” campaign will educate students, faculty and staff on ways to approach difficult conversations on divisive topics and to stop hate speech and racism in our community.
