Blackface incident opens dialogue at SUNY Geneseo

SUNY Geneseo is trying to turn an ugly Halloween prank into a teachable moment for students and faculty. On Halloween three students dressed in blackface at a campus Halloween party. The incident sparked outrage and several protests around campus. “This is not behavior that we condone,” said SUNY Geneseo President Christopher Dahl. On Friday hundreds of students and faculty met to talk about the incident and what changes the university needs to make to insure something like this doesn’t happen again. “One of the things we hope to accomplish is bold and frank discussion that people understand each others positions and ask questions about how we make this a better more welcoming and inclusive community,” said Dahl. Students were divided into small discussion groups to talk about some of the issues raised by the incident. “This is great but it’s kind of too late,” said Dante Ray. Dante, a member the student group F.A.R.I. which stands for Fighting Against Racial Injustice, commends the move but wonders why it took so long for the school to address the issue of diversity. “What they need to do is make something like this mandatory. They need to have something in the curriculum where people have to learn about the different cultures around them,” said Ray. But some students like Richard Gibson thinks the school may be overreacting. “I think it’s a bit exaggerated frankly. The fact that there’s a resemblance between a person with light skin putting on makeup to darken that skin with a present day event versus the historical one is purely coincidental,” said Gibson. President Dahl say the university will look into ways to increase diversity on its campus and in it’s faculty. He also say the school may evaluate it’s diversity curriculum.