My name is Tyrell Lashley and I graduated from Ithaca College in 2008 from the Theatre Arts Management Program. I am forever grateful for the experience Ithaca College provided me and the life long friendships that I made. But, there is a hidden story. There was an incident that I don't really talk about much and only my closest friends and family know about it. As I sit and watch the turmoil take over the campus, I can't help but feel for the current students as they handle the same struggles we went through 9 years ago.
It was my first semester, freshman year. I came back to my dorm after a long day of class just to find the words "Faggot", "Fruitcake" and a penis drawn in black permanent marker on my front door. I paused as I have never encountered such hardcore hate in my life. Even growing up as a kid in the inner city of Philadelphia, being held at gunpoint at the age of 14, this level of hate was new to me. These people did not know me at all. I open my room door to find my roommate sitting there eating chips with a slight smirk on his face. I ask him, "do you know who did this?" as I am trying to hold back tears. He says "ummmm, no". My first call was to my three best girlfriends who I knew would squad up and handle this how we did in the streets. They all rushed over to my room wearing tennis shoes, sweat pants and one even brought some vasoline in preparation for a fight. I calmed down for a second and called 911. Officers from the Ithaca College Office of Public Safety responded and interviewed me. They seemed to brush it off but in the back of my mind, I knew my roommate had something to do with it. That made my nights very long. How could I sleep in the same room with someone who hates me so much?
A few weeks later I was in my room preparing for final exams and I was listening to some gospel music. My roommate walks in and begins to laugh. I ask what was so funny. He says, "I had a dream about your homeboy Jesus, and I tried to give him some skittles in his hand but they fell through". Of course I was stunned yet again and I responded "someone has a bullet with your name on it". I was angry, mad, scared. His response was "Oh, I didn't think black people could write. Aren't you all illiterate". I knew at that point this living situation was not gonna work. I met with my Residence Director the next day and shared all of the details and her response to me was "you need to learn how to get along with people" and denied my request to transfer to another dorm. Needless to say the rest of my freshman year was a nightmare in my own dorm so I hardly was there.
As my college career progressed, I met people with similar stories like mine and I knew something had to change. I knew I was born for leadership and needed to do something. By the time I was a senior, I was elected Spokesperson/CEO of the African-Latino Society (ALS) which represented all students of color and their issues. We tackled a great deal and made tremendous progress primarily because we had a college administration that was tuned into the needs of the campus, cared for us all as students, and stood for what is right. President Rochen, your time has come and gone, please resign.
I am challenging all alum and current students to please share their Ithaca College experience that give details of incidents of racism and hatred so the world can truly see the impact this is having. Please use both hashtags #HowISeeIC AND #HowIReallySeeIC