“There was a post written entirely in French, and, reading it, I thought that was so indicative of Michigan, that someone would feel comfortable enough to write in their native tongue to express how they feel.”

Jones felt that because the University itself is such a global campus, the community was ready to take this big step toward having more open discussions about race.

Anthropology Prof. Bruce Mannheim, who used his six words to say, “Still a long way to go,” said he believes that while racism in our country has a lot to do with slavery, it’s not all historical at this point.

“A lot of people believe that because the institution of slavery is over, racism is an issue of the past,” Mannheim said. “A lot of everyday practices seem unaware of the implications of racism on an institutional level.”

Mannheim added that he’d like to see the University become even more of a “global campus,” especially in regard to increasing intellectual diversity.

“Race can be complex and messy, but that doesn’t mean that we can choose to ignore it,” Mannheim said.

Art & Design freshman Jillian Manning said her desire to experience diversity was one of the things that drew her toward the University in the first place, though she initially had concerns about inadvertently offending people she wasn’t accustomed to interacting with.

“The community here is very open about race, but there are still people here like me who are from small towns and might want to sweep it under the rug like it doesn’t matter,” Manning said. “As in almost everything in life, conversation is key, and we just have to keep working for that.”