FAYETTEVILLE -- Black students at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville took to social media beginning Monday with hundreds of posts describing racist and inappropriate remarks made by faculty members and other students, plus experiences of being improperly singled out on campus.
The posts, made on Twitter with the hashtag #BlackatUark, covered all aspects of campus life as students past and present spoke up.
Some posts described offensive behavior by other students.
"#BlackatUark Is having a drunk frat guy tell you 'Hey what up my n*' then someone justifying it by saying he was drunk," stated a post by a Twitter user named Evan Buckner.
Other posts described classroom incidents.
"#BlackatUark Imagine being the only black person in your class and having your professor call your afro EXTREME in front of the entire class," stated a post by Twitter user Makayla Carr.
Among themes to emerge was a lack of black staff members and black professors at UA. In 2018, the most recent year with federal data available, UA had 40 black or African American instructional staff with faculty status, about 3% of the 1,227 faculty member total.
Black students made up about 4% of the university's 23,025 undergraduate students in fall 2019, according to UA data.
"#blackatuark is having a white counselor mistake you for another black student and sharing her private information," stated a post by Twitter user Nyasha Bgoni.
A group of students identified as the Black Student Caucus on Monday released a list of 15 "demands."
The first demand listed was for Chancellor Joe Steinmetz to issue a statement "regarding the expulsion of the students in the twitter video."
Just over two weeks ago, a social media post surfaced of a video that shows a phone playing what appears to be a social media post.
The shortvideo appears to show two white men lying facedown on the floor with hands behind their backs. Two others are seated and another is standing.
Text in the post states, in quotation marks, "Let's do some George Floyd s* to em." The post also states: "Hazing at its finest."
An online petition asking for the expulsion of two students involved in the video had more than 21,000 signatures as of Tuesday.
On June 2, UA issued a statement condemning the mocking of Floyd's death and stating that "this incident is under investigation."
The petition also calls for the suspension of the students' fraternity. The UA chapter of Sigma Chi released a statement earlier this month stating that the two students were to be expelled from the fraternal organization and that the activity in the video "was in no way connected to our fraternity."
"The former members have expressed their sincerest remorse and regret for their actions and have acknowledged that being removed from membership in Sigma Chi is an appropriate response," read the statement.
The Black Student Caucus -- which is not a student organization registered with the university -- also includes in its list of demands a call for mandatory cultural competency training as well as a university hate speech policy with "a strict definition and strict consequences."
Steinmetz, in a Twitter post Tuesday, said he is meeting weekly with black students and has been reading the social media posts.
"Your experiences as black students are powerful, painful testaments to the vital work we need to do to make our campus equitable and inclusive. These hard, real discussions are an important step to affect change together," Steinmetz said.
Mark Rushing, a UA spokesman, said Steinmetz is aware of the students' demands and looking forward to meeting with black student leaders this week.
Steinmetz referred to "immediate action" taken with social media posts.
Rushing, in an email, said: "While we're prohibited by federal law from releasing student records, the university's Office of Student Standards and Conduct takes immediate action to investigate all reports of potential violations of our code of student life."
A spokeswoman for the Black Student Caucus group did not respond to an email asking how many students have been involved with the group and did not respond to a question about whether representatives were meeting with Steinmetz.
Last week the university began a series of "digital strategy sessions" for students, faculty and staff to discuss ways to combat racism and make the campus more inclusive. Rushing said nearly 400 took part in the virtual session this past Friday.
Some students expressed that their concerns are not being heard, however.
"#BlackatUark is creating a hashtag because the administration refuses to listen to the demands of black students," stated a Twitter user named Zaniya K. Smith.