Two weeks after the University of Colorado hosted its annual “diversity and inclusion” summit on the Boulder campus, students of color are concerned about how dedicated CU is to the principle of diversity. 

CPR reports that CU-Boulder’s Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance received 117 complaints against students and 347 complaints against employees that fall under the harassment policy, many of which were race-based.

Sixty-eight percent of CU students are white, although nearly 50% of CU’s Denver campus are students of color.

One graduate student in Boulder told CPR that students entering the university from homogeneous racial background should be held accountable for their unintentional racism.

“We can’t be the expense for that,” she said. “We can’t be like the scapegoats or the test rats for people who have never been exposed to diversity or taking the time to educate themselves about it.”

The summit, which occurred in early November, included more than 40 sessions on topics ranging from inclusive faculty hiring and religious diversity to the future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Other students acknowledged that while they may not have directly experienced hate speech or overt racism, they still feel that they do not belong on campus or do not have the same opportunities as their white peers.