The settlement between Deb Shops Inc. and 10 black MSU students who said they were discriminated against should send a message about the dangers of racial profiling.

The students, who were shopping in the store Oct. 23, were escorted from the mall by security after store officials said they were loitering, creating a disturbance and messing up the store. The students say they were asked to leave because of their race.

Deb Shops and Meridian Mall’s security company have offered to pay each student $1,000 and donate $1,000 to next year’s Fake the Funk competition, as well as a promise to strive for more diverse employees and better customer service.

But the money is not the issue. It’s important to note the students never asked for any - they wanted respect.

The real benefit from this settlement is the initiation of storewide sensitivity and diversity training for staff of the Philadelphia-based retail outlet.

A lesson any staff member in any store should learn is no customer should feel like they’ve been discriminated against.

At the same time, some people aren’t aware their actions could be perceived as offensive - an unfortunate fact in today’s society. That’s why it’s important store employees get meaningful diversity and sensitivity training.

These 10 students should be very proud for standing up for what they believe it. Too often people don’t take chances such as this to fight discrimination.

But it’s important for anybody to speak up when they feel discriminated against. Even if an incident doesn’t meet the legal standards for discrimination, giving that impression can be just as hurtful.

The only way to enact any kind of change is for people to make their displeasure known.

We hope the upcoming forum between campus groups, university administration and the companies to discuss the incident at Meridian Mall will work to further solidify things.

With a little more development, the answers found to this situation can be applied to businesses throughout the area.

Now it’s important for Deb Shops Inc. to follow through with its word to conduct appropriate training. Its reputation is damaged already and an empty promise would only serve to make things worse.

We hope this is a big step toward the change the 10 students hope to make, and plays a part in cleaning up the problem of racism in our community.