Black students at Purdue disappointed by university's response to Black Lives Matter movement

Black students at Purdue disappointed by university's response to Black Lives Matter movement

This in the wake of protests across the nation, and here in lafayette, for racial justice and against police brutality.

As news 18's anna darling reports, the students just want to hear directly from their leaders and see action.

"it doesn't feel likthe university supports us" black students at purdue university say they want to see real change on campus toward ending systemic racism.

Senior brenden drinkard-mcfarland says he hasn't had the best experience attending purdue.

"if someone were to ask if i've thoroughly enjoyed my experience at purdue, i could give every answer except it's been amazing" he says purdue praises its diversity regularly, but the black student population hasn't felt much support.

Sophomore jordan harris says he has enjoyed his time at purdue so far, but also agrees with brenden.

"they say they want to make change and improve stuff but with only 3%" black student union president ceouna hegwood says adjusting to life at purdue can be difficult.

"it's a hard journey.

Even sitting in a classroom might be hard, realizing you are the only african american person in the classroom" b-s-u vice president christian nichols comes from a purdue household.

He says black students have to be prepared.

"you may have to be fighting like we are to be heard, to feel equal and to feel welcome on this campus" purdue trustees announced this week they will work to start a task force to address racial inquality this fall.

President mitch daniels and other trustees voiced their full support in a press release.

Saying ey "agreed the university needs to look closely at issues across the purdue system that stand in the way of the success of purdue faculty, staff and students of color and other diverse groups."

The students say want to see actions and tangible change.

"it's a step in the right direction i think but at the same time, if they would have listened to us in the first place we wouldn't even need the task force" "it can be a good step forward if we actually see results" "in't this as we move forward we plan to work together to create solutions, no none of that."

"that action means more than anything and i guess we'll just have to wait and see how that plays out."

The unversity put out a statement at the beginning of june on its social media pages in the wake of george floyd's death.

However it was missing one important thing to the students...president mitch daniels' signature.

"i think it's quite pathetic the statement they released" news 18 obtained a list of all 131 r-1 doctoral universities across the nation.

Purdue was the only one t to have a direct statement from university leadership.

This is especially troubling to black students since leaders at purdue have been hard pressed to comment about racial incidents in the past.

Last fall, students demanded president daniels address an incident where a puerto rican student's id was denied at a cvs next to campus .

But president daniels never issued an official statement.

"other universities usually follow suit behind purdue so for them to not step up and take action and show that they have support and empathy for us, it's sad" we attempted multiple times to contact president daniels to talk to him about this story but were unable to reach him for comment.

His spokesperson said the statement released on social media is the university's response."

Anna darling news 18 you can read purdue's full statement that was posted on social media and learn more about the racial inequality task force on our website wlfi.com.

Leaders for black student union say they are planning virtual and in person protests.

A promising outlook so far in what could be