The San Jose State Associated Students Board of Directors approved a resolution during its Wednesday meeting that asked the university to acknowledge racism was involved in Gregory Johnson Jr. 's death and to offer more resources for Black students.
Anoop Kaur, director of academic affairs co-authored the resolution “Gregory Johnson Junior: Addressing Anti-Blackness and Systemic Racism at SJSU” and said it’s crucial for the board to speak out against anti-Blackness.
“It’s important for [the A.S. Board] to not be silent when it comes to anti-Blackness and systemic racism at SJSU,” Kaur said in a Wednesday email to the Spartan Daily. “Many folks may point out that there is work to be done outside, but we as an organization must actively fight racism on our campus.”
In the resolution, A.S. board directors will create and fund a scholarship in Johnson’s name intended to support Black students. They also asked the university to publicly recognize the circumstances surrounding Johnson’s death are representative of systemic racism at SJSU.
Johnson was an SJSU student who was found dead in the basement of the Sigma Chi fraternity house in 2008. His death was ruled a suicide by the University Police Department and the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office, according to the autopsy report.
Johnson’s family has called his death a hate crime, as Johnson was the only Black member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, and have been advocating for a re-examination of the case.
In a Feb. 18 campuswide email, SJSU President Mary Papazian stated SJSU is aware some community members are calling on the university asking for justice.
"SJSU recognizes that for many members of our community, the circumstances surrounding Gregory’s death are emblematic of longstanding systemic racism in our nation,” Papazian stated.
She also stated the coroner’s office agreed to a new review of its 2008 autopsy report after the coronavirus pandemic eases and stated SJSU will cooperate with county officials.
Other people involved and consulted in the creation of the resolution included Johnson’s mother, Denise Johnson and Lana Gomez, a representative for the advocacy group Students for Gregory Johnson, according to A.S. Director of Sustainability and co-author of the resolution Jocelyn Jones-Trammell.
Students for Gregory Johnson is a student-run organization demanding justice for Johnson’s death.
Demanding support for Black Students
The resolution also introduced ways the university can help Black Students including: investing in more programs to “recruit, retain and empower” Black students, addressing the needs of Black student-athletes and evaluating the resolution to annually track progress.
Black students make up 3.4% of the student population, according to a Fall 2020 Student profile from SJSU's Office of Institutional Research.
In June, SJSU students and faculty members sent a petition demanding the school cut its police funding and reallocate the money into the Black community, according to a June 24, 2020 San Francisco Chronicle article.
Petitioners stated, among other things, the university needs to hire Black coaches and create more academic and mental health counseling services specifically for its Black students.
“I would like to say that I'm very happy about the approval of the resolution in honor of Gregory Johnson Jr. which addresses the eradication of anti-Blackness and systemic racism from SJSU,” Jones-Trammell said during the meeting. “It was a long journey to this point and I'm excited to ensure that this document gets out to the correct parties.”
Some students are not entirely sure of the effectiveness of the resolution and the impact it could have for Black students.
“It sounds like a step in the right direction in the school addressing systemic racism at SJSU, but I hope that it’s not performative,” said Tiffany Yep, a sociology junior through an Instagram message.
Some students have expressed the resolution is not sufficient.
“While the resolution may seem like it is attempting to address the racial injustices on campus with resources and such, it doesn’t feel like it’s enough,” said Kristin Hoang, a liberal studies junior through an Instagram message.
