Students rally to keep director of university’s African American studies program

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May 1, 2023

Claretta Bellamy, NBCBLK

Students rally to keep director of university’s African American studies program

Loyola University students protest outside the administration building in New Orleans. Photo Credit – Carson Cruse

At least 100 students at Loyola University in New Orleans last week protested the firing of the director of its African and African American Studies program. The protests came after the university’s decision last fall not to renew the contract of assistant professor R. Scott Heath, a move many students and staff advocating for Heath call unjust.

“This is a clear attack on DEI at Loyola,” Carson Cruse, a sophomore and president of the university’s Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter, said during the rally, using the abbreviation for diversity, equity and inclusion.

Continue reading about the protests here!

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