A group of students gathered in the Marketplace on Thursday to speak with members of the Binghamton University community about free speech and racism.

The event served as a response to yesterday’s controversy over flyers hung in the University Downtown Center. The flyers, which were posted around 7:30 a.m., highlighted several recent controversial incidents at BU and called out University administrators for failing to respond adequately. According to several students, one individual involved in hanging the posters was threatened with arrest by an officer with Binghamton’s State University Police Department.

In the Marketplace, demonstrators passed out more flyers and spoke with students about what happened yesterday and recent racist incidents, such as the offensive email sent by engineering professor Viktor Skormin last week and the drawings found in Newing College last fall. According to an organizer of the event, today’s demonstration was intended to support the students involved in the flyer campaign and educate students, faculty and staff by discussing challenges faced by people of color at BU.

“We’re trying to continue the conversation on issues of racism on this campus,” the organizer said. “Administration, faculty, staff and students on this campus either just don’t know about these issues out of ignorance, or don’t care and don’t want to talk about it, so we’re trying to continue the conversation because we were silenced yesterday and have been silenced throughout the entire year.”

Bronstein sent an email Thursday evening to the University Downtown Center listserv addressing Wednesday’s protest. In the email, Bronstein said she hoped to reaffirm her commitment to building an inclusive climate.

“I want you to feel comfortable at all times and free to come to talk with me or any other CCPA faculty or staff person, so that we may hear your concerns and can work together to build an inclusive community,” the email read. “My door is always open, and I encourage you to stop by the Dean’s office at any time. I am here to listen and to build solutions.”

Raaga Rajagopala, a senior majoring in French, helped hand out the flyers on Thursday and said she felt strongly about changing campus culture.

“When I heard about the fact that certain students and members of the human development department were threatened with arrest yesterday, I was appalled, but not surprised,” Rajagopala said. “Binghamton University has a history of silencing voices that want to challenge their perceptions of racism and discrimination on this campus, so if I can help students bring awareness to this issue, it’s my duty to be here.”

Bill Palmer, a University Libraries employee, said one of the students spoke with him while he was eating lunch.

“I was very interested in learning about what happened the other day,” Palmer said. “I certainly support free speech and at a time like this, it’s important for people to speak out and to have these dialogues, and if they are being suppressed from doing so, I am completely on their side.”

According to an organizer, events like these are important to show solidarity and raise awareness among students who are not people of color.

“Racism exists, and we can’t ignore it,” the organizer said.