Iowa State Students Protest Against Racism

Students at Iowa State University stormed the president's office Wednesday demanding a stronger response to a series of racist incidents on campus.

After finding neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic slogans scribbled across campus in chalk, over 100 students swept into President Wendy Wintersteen's office, reported the Des Moines Register.

Wintersteen, who was in a meeting elsewhere at the time, spoke to the student protesters on the phone. They students were part of the Students Against Racism protest that marched through campus to Wintersteen's office.

"We've done protests before and nothing changes. The local media has picked it up, nothing changes. These posts about the racist incidents go viral and nothing changes," sophomore Alexa Rodriguez told the Register. "We decided, 'Hey, we need to make this big, we need to call attention to this to have that power to then have the administration listen to us.'"

The hate speech is the most recent event in a string of racist incidents that had upset students.

Earlier this month the Iowa State Daily reported that an Iowa State student government adviser had posted a photo on social media of himself in black face paint for a play he participated in several years earlier at another college.

A residence hall adviser found a sign with the word "bean" altered to "beaner," which the adviser felt was aimed at her race. Since 2016 stickers and posters promoting white nationalism have been found on campus, and in 2015 a student protesting then candidate Donald Trump had his sign ripped from his hands. Last year a Wi-Fi address with a racist name frequently popped up near the campus.