By HOI-ABC and Howard Packowitz

NORMAL – Students from Illinois State University’s Black Homecoming Committee met with the university president on Wednesday to discuss their protests about inequality on campus.

Larry Dietz said the group had a productive discussion about the student march, along with diversity and inclusion. Dietz says the students had a clear message about their concerns right now.

“That issue has now moved into more of an issue about racism and anti-blackness on the campus and the perception to students that we believe for them, for many of them, this isn’t a perception,” said Dietz. “It’s their reality.”

The committee organized protests after an event the group planned for Homecoming Week was cancelled due to a conflict with a volleyball practice. The school contends the Black Student Union never signed a contract, but students believe there’s a bigger problem than that. They said the university needs to do more to stop racial discrimination.

“We also agreed that we are going to meet regularly. We don’t have our next meeting scheduled, but that will probably be within a month and I also expect to have some additional information about the Homecoming issue specifically perhaps by the end of the week,” said Dietz.

Dietz added he is glad students took time to talk about this topic with him to improve campus inclusion moving forward.

He plans to bring those ideas to the school’s Board of Trustees meeting on Friday.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]