Dr. Keith Johnson, vice president for Equity and Inclusion, directed a listening session on Thursday, Feb. 2, where students, faculty and staff could state their concerns about the police brutality in Memphis that led to the death of Tyre Nichols. This session was held in the East Tennessee room on the second floor of the Culp at 5 p.m.
The goal of the informal session was to provide a safe place to address issues and questions freely; it was also to allow those experiencing confusion and disbelief to vent and have the opportunity to express themselves without judgment.
“Sometimes what happens when scenarios like this occur in our lives, and we’re caught off guard, we don’t have an outlet where we can share our feelings and our emotions,” said Johnson.
Johnson went on to explain that he did not hear many people having conversations about what happened to Tyre Nichols, which was disappointing to him. He hopes that people do not become desensitized to police brutality or dismiss it, which is why he pushed for a school-wide discussion and panel.
“For me, being an African-American male, I have more of a personal connection to that because when I see something like that, I can very easily envision myself,” said Johnson. “I can very easily envision my son and others in my family who could very easily have been Tyre Nichols in that scenario.”
He also wanted to show that ETSU cares for its students, faculty and staff. Members from many different departments attended the session and communicated their worries about how this incident would affect students.
Alison Davis, an intern director from the ETSU Counseling Center, explained how the center is trying to do better at providing resources for students to feel safe, comfortable and heard.
“The Counseling Center does not want to just be reactive to these things,” Davis said. She, and other faculty members in attendance, advocated for the university to have a crisis response team that would promptly aid students in coping with tragedies such as this one.
