By Melyssa Allen

Meredith College students, faculty and staff have joined together in response to a recent act of intolerance.

On March 2, just prior to spring break, incidents of intolerant graffiti were reported on campus. Students immediately responded by encouraging the campus community to wear green as a show of respect, unity and peace.

On Wednesday, March 14, the campus held a Unity Chapel service at 10 a.m., and a Unity Rally at 5:30 p.m. The rally was organized by the Student Government Association (SGA) and sponsored by several campus groups.

Not At My Meredith
“At some colleges, messages of hate would be met with silence…not at my Meredith,” said President Maureen Hartford, who opened the event.

Members of the crowd joined her in repeating the statement “Not at My Meredith” after each phrase, closing with “at some colleges, peace and unity are forgotten concepts…not at my Meredith.” (Click here for full text of Hartford’s comments.)

Hartford thanked those in attendance for “being here today to show what community looks like.”

Opportunity for Real Unity
Vice President for College Programs Jean Jackson echoed this sentiment, and offered a clarification on the meaning of “unity.”

“Sometimes people confuse unity with single-mindedness,” Jackson said. “For unity to occur, there must be at least two things coming together…at Meredith we have the opportunity for real unity.”

Jackson is an alumna of Meredith and longtime member of the faculty.

“Meredith has always been a school strengthened by challenge,” Jackson said. “I hope Meredith will always know unity.”

Diverse Campus Representation
Representatives of each campus organization that assisted SGA with creating the Unity Rally spoke following Hartford and Jackson. These groups were the Diversity Council, Unity Council, Disability Support Organization, Spectrum, Association for Cultural Awareness and the Social Work Club.

Each member of the SGA Executive Board read quotes that represented the day to them.

Meredith-N-Harmony, the College’s gospel choir, sang “Lean on Me,” joined by the audience. Then, the “open mic” was turned over to students who had signed up to add their voice to support the campus’s effort for unity.

Freshman Amy Damone summed up the purpose of the Unity Rally with this:

“Ignoring [the graffiti] would be the worst reaction possible, because ignoring it means accepting it…let us become a stronger campus for this,” Damone said.

Visit www.meredith.edu/mcnews/campus-tolerance.htm for more on Meredith’s response to the graffiti incident.