Committee to Address Racism on UNI Campus

The University of Northern Iowa president says he’s forming a committee to address minority and other students’ allegations of systemic racism on the Cedar Falls campus. President Mark Nook took responsibility in a recent letter to the university community for the university’s failure to adequately fulfill goals set by an ad hoc student group and backed by the student government. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that Nook’s action follows a social media campaign of criticism by the student group, Racial and Ethnic Coalition. Among other things, the group posted video testimonials from minority students talking about problems they’ve had on campus, including dealing with a racist professor and trying to navigate university diversity policies.