Seton Hall students want Africana studies protected
Seton Hall University students have staged a sit-in outside the office of the school’s president under the banner of Protect AFAM to demand that the school direct more funding toward its Africana Studies (AFAM) program and hire up to four full-time faculty for its courses.
Protect AFAM claims they have asked to speak with the administration about how AFAM appears to be being defunded, but have not been given the opportunity to sit down with them. Rev. Dr. Forrest M. Pritchett, interim director of AFAM, wrote an open letter in support of the protests According to the school newspaper, The Setonian, he termed the students’ sit-in a “last option.”
On the Protect AFAM Instagram page (@protect.afam.shu), students can be seen speaking about the importance of promoting Black education. They also can be seen claiming that Seton Hall does not want to allow the students to protest and decrying the fact that school security guards have been photographing the students taking part in the protest. “You want to keep us heavily surveilled?” one student says into a microphone. “Seton Hall university, let it be known that every single security guard has told you how respectful we are, has told you how accommodating we are, has told you how peaceful we are! But you need to ensure the ‘safety’ of your Seton Hall community? The only thing unsafe was our voices.”The university said in a statement: “Seton Hall University enthusiastically supports the discipline of Africana Studies and underscores how vital it is for all our students, independent of their major field of study, to be able to learn about their (and other) cultures, histories, and identities.”
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