During the accountability march, both the Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ+ flags could be seen flying in all directions. Vanguard Photo | Nicole Vogelpohl
In response to the visit from an on-campus evangelist last weekend, students held a march Thursday, Sept. 16 to demand accountability from SVSU.
Some students said they believe the university did not handle the visit from the evangelist properly and should have intercepted before the situation got out of hand.
The march began at the Ryder Center and circled around to the President’s Courtyard.
Students held up Black Lives Matter and Pride flags. They chanted as they walked around campus, asking for justice.
Business management sophomore Roxana Bermudez wanted to make sure that students’ voices were heard.
“The goal of this march was to show the staff , administration and the president of SVSU our disappointment in their actions on Sept. 10,” Bermudez said.
Communication sophomore Evangeline Cruz said she wants support from SVSU when it comes to standing up against injustices.
“The main purpose of the march was to provide the opportunity for students on campus to stand up for ourselves and demand what we deserve,” Cruz said.
The protesters asked for more training and support when it comes to SVSU’s staff.
“We deserve the support of our faculty and police officers,” Cruz said. “We deserve a microaggression and unconscious bias training for all students.”
Bermudez said she wanted the march to bring their concerns into the spotlight.
“The importance of this march for me was that we were able to come together and for our voices to be heard,” she said. “(We wanted) to let the administration and the president of SVSU know that we won’t be quiet and that we want justice for what happened last Thursday.”
Cruz explained that she went to the march to show support.
“I went because it’s important to support and stand up for what is right and what we deserve,” she said. “The man who came to campus last week off ended communities I am a part of.”
She also expressed general disappointment in the university.
“Students do so much and come to this campus with the standard of being in a place that is supposed to feel like home, but instead, we are discriminated [against] and pushed down when it comes to our protection and being inclusive on campus,” she said.
There was no direct response about the protest from the university.
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