Andreas Jeninga/The Hoya Over 250 students rallied in Red Square on Friday against recent acts of racism, including an e-mail loaded with racial epithets sent to the Black Student Alliance and Georgetown’s chapter of NAACP.

University President John J. DeGioia met with student leaders yesterday in response to a racist e-mail sent to minority student groups and a noticeable rise in racial intolerance on campus. DeGioia promised continued vigilance against intolerance.

Dressed in black to show solidarity, over 100 students chanted, sang and joined hands at 7 a.m. as they waited in Healy Circle to present DeGioia with a signed petition containing a list of resolutions that they feel the university should implement to address hate speech and promote tolerance at Georgetown.

“Too many people have worked too hard for too many years to create a unique community here,” DeGioia said. He described the Georgetown community as “open, diverse and inclusive.”

“We do not tolerate acts of racism in this community,” he added.

DeGioia met later that day with Black Student Alliance President Veronica Root (MSB ’05) and other student leaders to discuss the petition. According to Julie Green Bataille, assistant vice president for communications, DeGioia described the meeting as a “productive, positive discussion.”

Student groups also protested in Red Square on Friday afternoon following a town hall meeting on Thursday night that addressed the e-mail sent to the BSA and Georgetown’s chapter of the NAACP.

The e-mail, which opened with “Dear Niggers,” included numerous racist and derogatory statements and called for blacks to “go back to Africa, and don’t come back.” UIS had traced the e-mail to an IP address in Florida, Bataille said.

Other students said that they have felt increased intolerance in recent weeks. Ashley Terrell (NHS ’05) said that two students told her to go “pick up her welfare check.” Another student said in class that being a minority was a good way to get into Georgetown, drawing laughs from students and the professor.

Bataille said that DeGioia later met with other members of the administration to discuss steps the university could take to address the students’ concerns these issues, and Provost James J. O’Donnell and Todd Olson, interim vice president for student affairs, were asked to devise a concrete plan for ensuring that Georgetown remains inclusive. DeGioia also hopes to meet with the students again after spring break in order to assess the action that has been taken in response to their concerns.

“[President DeGioia] is grateful to students for their commitment to these issues and for their desire to work collectively to address them,” Bataille said in an e-mail.

Yet words, the students say, are not enough.

“If actions aren’t taken, we will hold him accountable again,” Andrew Rivera (MSB ’05), treasurer of the Black Student Alliance, said following DeGioia’s address.

The petition presented to DeGioia is comprised of six resolutions detailing steps the university can take to address acts of discrimination and increase awareness of issues affecting minority students.

Initiatives include expanded diversity training for Georgetown students and faculty, more core classes that focus on multiculturalism and new procedures for reporting hate crimes.

Yesterday’s rally came on the heels of a larger demonstration that filled Red Square Friday afternoon.

“I have learned that even at institutions of higher learning, one can be denied a very basic right – the right to an education without discrimination,” Mary Garvey (SFS ’05), vice president of public relations of the Georgetown chapter of NAACP, said at the beginning of the rally.

Over 300 students from a diverse range of campus groups sang, chanted and gave personal accounts of discrimination at Georgetown. These included accounts of perceived prejudicial attitudes from professors or classmates and derogatory comments from other students.

Maryam Mohamed (SFS ’06), secretary of the Muslim Students Association, said that a friend of hers was accused by a professor of being unable to identify with American culture due to her Muslim headscarf.

“She felt so powerless,” Mohamed said.

Jennifer Lee (COL ’04), who is Chinese American, said that while walking home at night, two male students spoke to her mockingly in Chinese. She said that although she had never before experienced an overtly racist attack, she felt that students at Georgetown should be more mindful of their attitudes toward members of other races.

“A lot of times it’s so easy for us to say, `I’m not racist,'” she said. She added, however, that she felt everyone needed to “realize that there’s a lot of `othering’ going on.”

An anonymous flyer that attacked gays and minorities was distributed two weeks ago and, according to Root, was stuffed inside copies of The Fire This Time, a minority student newspaper.

“For me, the words `conniving Jews’ and `dear niggers’ in one night is a double attack on my identity,” Deidre Moskowitz (COL’05), president of Jewish Students Association and a board member of GU Women of Color, said on Friday.

Moskowitz echoed the sentiments of many when she said that she saw the e-mail as an ideal means with which to confront a complacent student body and administration with the reality of racism.

“The campus remains silent while the administration sweeps it under the rug,” she said.

In a statement following Friday’s rally, Bataille said that the university will look into other incidents the students mentioned.

“Especially as a Catholic and Jesuit university, we are committed to building an inclusive, tolerant and respectful community,” Bataille said.

After the momentum generated in the past two rallies, however, some are uncertain of where the days ahead will lead.

“I feel like everyone’s just like, `what’s next?'” Tiffany White (COL ’05), president of Georgetown’s chapter of NAACP, said following yesterday’s rally.