06-02-2025
University of Akron cancels decades-old race forum following presidential executive order
AKRON, Ohio — After launching a large-scale effort to address long-standing challenges with race relations in the city in 1997, President Bill Clinton chose Akron and the University of Akron's E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall to stage a race town hall.
'Akron has a difficult history in race relations. It included a riot that stopped a lynching on Main Street in 1900, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in 1926,' said Dave Lieberth, an Akron historian who moderated the event.
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'We had a very large attendance. E.J. Thomas hall was pretty much filled that day. A lot of students were there. The schools let out their high school students primarily so they could not only see the president, but they could hear the conversation,' said Lieberth.
'I told them this is a conversation that Akron has been having for over 150 years, going back to John Brown, 1859,' he said.
The event invited a national audience to a local conversation between the president of the United States and some 60 Akron-area residents about healing a divide.
As a legacy, the University of Akron began holding an annual forum called Rethinking Race.
'It was very affirming to the people of Akron that they were in the right place at the right time doing the right things to try to heal racial divides that had developed over 200 years,' said Lieberth.
'The initiative of re-imagining race was to continue the work that president Clinton had started in 1997 by bringing this conversation to the nation, Akron's conversation to the nation,' he added.
Twenty-eight years later, following an executive order by President Donald Trump targeting equity and diversity efforts, the university will not be holding the forum during Black History Month in February.
In an initial statement, the university said: 'While the University offers a variety of events for students and the community, we must do so in the context of a state institution that is required to abide by law, regulations and guidance at both the federal and state levels, from which we receive funding. As a result of that guidance, the university has decided not to budget for Rethinking Race this year.'
The university issued an updated statement late Tuesday afternoon, saying: 'The University of Akron is evaluating its programming and looks forward to sharing ideas for new campus and community programming as they develop. In the meantime, here are upcoming events for Black History Month.'
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The University of Akron is not alone. On Wednesday, the Military Academy West Point announced that it would be disbanding student clubs related to gender and race. Other universities across the country are following suit.
'I can understand why they canceled it. I can understand the support behind canceling it, but at the same time, for a lot of people the Rethinking Race thing is a huge comfort for them,' said Aden Chesser, a University of Akron student.
'I think it depends on the person. I know some people feel differently. I think it's good to be open with people and, you know, to see how other people feel, what they think — things like that,' said Abbey Higginbothom.
'A lot of people need to learn about different diversities, especially with Rethinking Race,' said Denija Dorcch, a University of Akron student who said she had attended Rethinking Race events and believes there remains a need for discussions about diversity in 2025 — just as there was 28 years ago.
'A lot of things have gotten better as a result of these initiatives. There is more openness among some groups, some churches, some governmental units than there had been prior to the Coming Together Project and the [Akron] Beacon Journal series. In other ways, we are horribly divided — not necessarily on issues just of race, but of public safety,' said Lieberth.
Nearly three decades after moderating the presidential town hall, Lieberth remains optimistic that even without the Rethinking Race forum, the city of Akron will continue to work on ways to try to bring people together.
'We are going to continue to learn, find ways to regroup, find ways to continue conversations that will bring people who have racial differences, economic differences, gender differences equity differences of all kinds. That will continue in some way, despite what Washington decides,' he said.
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