On behalf of the Executive Board of Chatham Student Power, we are concerned that Athletic Department Head, Leonard Trevino’s, previous racially insensitive comments and Chatham University’s silence on further reparations for them are illustrative of larger underlying issues within our Athletic Department as well as our university administration. In a time where racial and ethnic divides are especially heightened in not only our community, but also in our country, we demand decisive action on behalf of Chatham University to denounce these behaviors that are characteristic of racism. While we acknowledge the fact people can change, and that this controversy with Mr. Trevino occurred nearly 25 years ago, we ask that Mr. Trevino take action to ensure members of the Chatham Community understand he regrets his harmful statements and that he will do more to be the anti-racist ally we all must be today.

On Sunday, October 3, our organization posted screenshots of public information reported in the 1997 edition of the Baltimore Sun about Mr. Trevino’s racist comment, where after speaking with an Athlete at Goucher College who identifies as a student of color, he called the team he was then directing his “plantation”. After an uproar in response to this social media post from members of the Chatham Community, as of Sunday, October 11, a week has surpassed with no further public action taken from either Mr. Trevino or Chatham’s administration pertaining to the incident. This is unacceptable, especially given that Chatham has promised a formal response to us via social media mere days after posting this information. Therefore, we at Chatham Student Power are standing behind members of Chatham Student Government (CSG) in requesting:

• Trevino issue a formal written and verbal statement publicly available to the Chatham Community
• Trevino attend the upcoming public meeting with Chatham Student Government on October 15, at 11:30 am-12:00 pm in order to offer his statement and answer questions from the Chatham Community.
• Document concerted efforts to make the Chatham Athletics Department a more racially inclusive and comfortable place for students of color

In addition to Chatham Student Government’s (CSG) thorough asks, we at Chatham Student Power believe further action must be taken to ensure there is accountability on behalf of Chatham University – where administrators have claimed to be unaware of Mr. Trevino’s previous statements.  Therefore, we also demand:

• That if there are further inquiries from students after CSG’s Senate meeting, Mr. Trevino attend an online Public Forum where he is able to offer real time responses to Chatham community members.
• Chatham administration issues a formal statement on why decisive action has not been taken in this circumstance thus far, what it can do to make sure new hires are thoroughly vetted for racist behavior, and  how it can learn from this controversy in the future.

While some members of Chatham Student Power’s Executive Board dually belong on Chatham Student Government’s (CSG) and have offered some information for this post, Chatham Student Power in no way seeks to speak for CSG but hope to rather amplify their significant efforts to increase accountability on our campus.  We look forward to hearing more from both Mr. Trevino and Chatham University administration in the near future.