Activism at Pratt: Today

The Black Student Union is still an active organization at Pratt. To discover more about how things have changed (or not changed), I interviewed BSU's president and the Chair of Equity and Inclusion in Pratt's student government, Sarah Kanu. Kanu is the first person to hold the position of Chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, which in and of itself shows at least some changes have been made at Pratt over time. The BSU of today, according to Kanu, is focused on providing students with a space for open conversation and community among Black students at Pratt rather than organizing protest actions the way that the BSU of the '60s and '70s did. The activism of the BSU today is much more about education and open dialogue, reflecting larger shifts in how activism is structured, especially on college campuses. Kanu said, "students protest by getting together and creating initiatives for themselves, to see and find themselves in the institute." She described the movement as more additive than subtractive, saying, "rather than saying I'm against this, it's saying I'm for this alternative. I will use these opportunities I'm given to make change." Like the students of the '60s and '70s, the current BSU has advocated for the creation of a Black Studies minor, a project that is now underway. It may have taken half a century, but progress is being made. Below are two documents written by the BSU at Pratt's main campus and at Pratt's Munson Williams Proctor campus.

"Letter to Munson Williams Proctor Administration and Faculty from BSU." 2020. Courtesy of Black Student Union at Pratt Institute.

In the time period of the '60s and '70s, Pratt students communicated via the Prattler, large group meetings, and physically distributed student publications. Today, our public forums exist much more in the virtual space. The Instagram page @prattgossip has become like a modern day version of the Prattler Letters to the Editor. This page allows students to anonymously submit something to be posted, and they then share this with its followers, currently at 3,253. To put that in perspective, Pratt had 4,875 students enrolled in the 2019-2020 school year. Students use this platform to present their viewpoints on campus issues, and others can respond in the comments. Issues discussed on @prattgossip range from such benign topics as asking for professor recommendations to serious community organizing around social justice issues on campus. Students share important tips and information with each other about life at Pratt and in New York City. The page has a highlights section with resources on social justice, protesting safely, charities to donate to, and covid-19 resources along with Pratt-specific memes. @prattgossip is an interesting case study in Gen-Z social interaction. We simultaneously make nonsensical memes and organize social justice movements. It is an interesting evolution in communication from the Pratt students in the '60s and '70s, who also combined humor and gravity in their publications, such as Striker. Things may have changed on the surface, such as our incorporation of technology, but when reading the Prattler Letters to the Editor and Striker, it is undeniable that there are similarities. Several posts from @prattgossip, some with comments, are shown below. These are just a few examples of the variety of topics that people post about. Click the image to view the full original post.

One of the major challenges that comes along with social media is that posting online has become a substitute for in-person activism. In my conversation with Sarah Kanu, we discussed how this is one of the biggest obstacles that Pratt students face in implementing change at the institute. We are all incredibly busy, and we participate in the ways we can, which sometimes means making a post online. It can also be very intimidating to voice your concerns in person to individuals who have power over you. Unfortunately, this type of online activism is not always the most effective. The student government has had to adapt to this online communication to determine what Pratt students need from their school. @prattgossip has, however, been an excellent platform for organizing further actions. For example, many students who had serious concerns about Pratt's handling of Title IX issues discovered on @prattgossip that they were not alone, and this has led to letter writing and organized protest surrounding this issue. This protest has led to a response from the administration, including an email which outlines the actions that are being taken to address the Title IX issues. Although @prattgossip has been used to implement change at the institute, @prattgossip has also been a toxic environment in which students act extremely negatively towards one another. Technology has come along with good and bad for Pratt students, but it is something that will continue to be influential on campus. Pratt students will need to learn to make technology work for them.

Over the past 50+ years, activism at Pratt Institute has both changed dramatically and remained very much the same. Many of the same themes exist in the concerns of students today that existed in the '60s and '70s. Even the way we communicate with each other today reflects the way Pratt students communicated with each other then; our platforms for communication have shifted into an online space rather than physical publication, but we still use a similar blend of humor and sincerity to discuss our concerns. We have also experienced significant change since the '60s and '70s. As some problems are solved, new ones continue to arise.

Similarities

The Pratt students of the '60s and '70s and Pratt students today are concerned about a lot of the same things. Today's Black Lives Matter movement, which many Pratt students participate in, reflects many of the same issues as the civil rights movement. There are still consistent concerns about diversity, equity, and inclusion at Pratt. The same lack of representation in faculty and administration that Pratt students denounced in the '60s and '70s is still a major concern today. While progress is being made in things like the implementation of the Black Studies minor, we are still fighting systemic racism within the institution.

Another consistent issue is communication and transparency from the administration. Sarah Kanu said that many students felt distrust and even disdain for the administration, and perceived administrators as exploitative and interested in money rather than providing a quality education. While she noted that some students might have widely different perceptions of the relationship between students and administration, she said that even Pratt students who loved attending this school still often held a critical eye towards the institute. This issue was highlighted by the pandemic, when many students expressed concerns about the delayed communication from Pratt about how the institute would be handling residential life.

Students today, like in the '60s and '70s, often have different opinions about the educational and social responsibilities of the institute. There are issues today regarding the conditions of facilities and access to resources. Students also express concern with Pratt's health and counseling services. Students are critical of Pratt's role within the community of Bed-Stuy and Clinton Hill, noting how Pratt has played a major role in these areas' gentrification. Financial concerns are still consistently an issue, with many Pratt students expressing that they do not feel that they are receiving the education and services that they should for the exorbitant amounts of money they pay.

Differences

There are also differences in the concerns of Pratt students then and now. For one, feminism and LGBTQ+ issues are much more prevalent in student activism today. Neither of these topics came up in any of the documentation of the protests that I was able to find. A majority of the student activists in the '60s and '70s were men, as evidenced by the archival documents written by men and describing male activist actions. Today, Pratt's population is significantly more female, and women take the lead in many activist movements at Pratt. According to Sarah Kanu, Pratt's student government is now for the first time, entirely comprised of women of color.

One issue that the Pratt students of today don't have to worry about is the presence of the R.O.T.C on campus. It was shocking to me when I first learned that this program even existed at Pratt due to Pratt's generally liberal leanings today. However, this was not always the case. Reading the Letters to the Editor in the Prattler is evidence of a much more politically divided campus. Although there were many student activists fighting for liberal causes, there were also students and members of the faculty and administration who openly disparaged these causes. The Pratt of today is less politically diverse, although that does not mean there is not significant political conflict, as can be seen in some of @prattgossip's posts.

Another issue that has become prevalent on @prattgossip is that of Pratt's Title IX handling. There is a separate Instagram page called @fixtitleixpratt specifically focused on this issue. There have been many accounts of Pratt mishandling Title IX complaints and ignoring victims of sexual violence shared on social media. @fixtitleixpratt has a link to a petition which has now been signed by over 130 students. The petition and protests surrounding this issue were effective in communicating the students' concerns. The administration has addressed this issue in an email outlining their commitment to addressing the concerns brought up by students by implementing further training for staff members and adding a student Title IX advisory board. Only time will tell how effective these changes are.

In Conclusion

My purpose in disseminating all of this information is so that it might inform activists at Pratt going forward. We can learn from the past and ask ourselves what must be done for the future. What can we learn from Pratt student activists of the past? What have student activists at Pratt achieved? What are we still working towards? How can we best reach our goals? I believe examining the history of activism at Pratt can begin to answer some of these questions.