OCAT director Samuel Saldivar reported the incident to MSU administrators and MSUPD. Once the incident report was filed, Worley brought the issue to the attention of Leslie, a senior studying kinesiology, and the group's vice president, neuroscience sophomore Jordan Wesson.

Leslie said she and Wesson had to speak out, releasing a statement addressing the Board of Trustees, administrators and faculty, because they were unsatisfied with the response from the administration.

“Black students make up 7% of Michigan State University's (MSU) campus,” Leslie and Wesson wrote in the statement. “Which in itself makes us as the Black Student body feel that our voice and presence is insignificant to the university being that MSU is Predominantly White Institution (PWI).”

Institutions that are predominantly white should actively address issues of discrimination and adopt an environment that promotes diversity and supports the voices of marginalized groups so students can feel welcomed at MSU, the statement said.

Leslie said she wanted voices and frustrations like hers to be heard. 

“I feel like we just have to keep pressuring the issue about safety and wanting more safety precautions on campus,” Leslie said. “Because it is the administration's job to keep us safe, keep us protected.”

Leslie and Wesson said their main concern is that MSU has areas of campus that are not covered by security cameras. In their statement, they urged the university to invest in additional security cameras so that individuals would be discouraged from committing offensive actions. 

“I really want to have these security cameras on campus so that we can actually identify these types of things ... so we can give the repercussions to the right person and some form of action instead of sweeping things under the rug or just a slap on the wrist,” Leslie said. “We’ve been asking for a camera since forever, we need to get this going and we need to get answers.” 

Wesson said these circumstances occur more often than students realize. He said racism and discrimination is everywhere and students can’t always catch it and confront it.  

“It’s a lot of stuff that doesn't get reported or gets kicked under the rug,” Wesson said. 

Chemical engineering junior Jalen Akeem said it’s disappointing to expect such situations to occur. He said these circumstances remind him that there's still more work to be done when treating Black people with respect. 

“I feel personally, I get comfortable with the fact … I’m not in close proximity to racism. But it’s instances like this that still reminds me that issues in terms of race are still prevalent even on a campus like MSU,” Akeem said.

Akeem said society needs to improve their perspectives on people of different backgrounds, but warned that many people still hold stereotypical perspectives. 

Akeem was the president of the South Neighborhood Black Caucus, or SNBC, in the 2022-23 academic year. He said Black student organizations should have conversations about these issues with the Black student body to identify and solve conflicts. 

“I feel as Black people, we really don’t have enough time where we could speak without having to worry about people judging how we feel and validating themselves,” Akeem said. 

Akeem said the administration and DEI office should have increased communication with students so that repercussions can be achieved in a timely manner. He added that being more persistent with leaders of the university would help keep discrimination to a minimum.

Moving forward, Akeem said he would like to see MSU enforce more required in-depth programs educating students about discrimination. 

“I need something to show me that the administration is at least trying to combat these issues,” Akeem said. “Show me a program, a strategy, a plan. I mean, it wouldn’t be perfect, but at least it would be a start.”