The multitude of diversity discussions regarding the threats painted in the Free Expression Tunnel Nov. 5 continued Wednesday night in Withers Hall with a teach-in about the history of racial slurs and their impact.

“The Gun, The Flag, and the Noose,” sponsored by the History Deparment, allowed four history professors to present a history of racial slurs and imagery to students and faculty.

The goal of the teach-in, which featured four separate lectures about specific instances or racial prejudice in American history, was to educate the diversity discussions in a historical context.

Blair Kelley, an assistant history professor who presented the section of the discussion about the noose, said she was surprised to see so many students and faculty turn out for the event.

“I’m very pleased with the turnout and I’m very honored,” she said. “I know in Dead Week it’s rough stuff. We were thrilled this many people came.”

Kelley said the goal of Wednesday night’s discussion was to ensure students understood how history influences today’s society.

“I think sometimes you have to say what happened,” Kelley said of dicsussing the threats painted in the Free Expression Tunnel. “It was crucial to air it out and talk about it within the historical context. This history marks all of us.”

Jay Bettis, a senior in chemistry, said the teach-in taught him history he did not know while also continuing the discussion of the Free Expression Tunnel incident.

“Discussions like this open the door for students to take an issue and put it on their shoulders,” Bettis said. “Just by going to college, we’re lucky. We’re forced to be around different types of people.”

As the Campus Culture Task Force Committee begins its efforts to make recommendations to Chancellor James Oblinger, Kelley said she hoped actual changes would take place on campus.

“I’m really looking forward to what the task force is going to be saying and doing,” she said. “I hope that it’s substantive and it will effect the outcome of what happens here. This doesnt need to be forgotten.”

Kelley also said she believes the University should release the pictures of what was painted on the Free Expression Tunnel so students could see exactly what was said.

“I’m hoping that the police will release all the pictures of what was written on the wall to help the process of truth and reconciliation,” she said. “We all have to understand what was said in order to address it, move on and educate ourselves.”

Bettis said students should be the driving force continuing diversity efforts on campus.

“What I got out of this is that it’s not up to administration,” he said. “Administration is only going to do so much. What you have to do is figure out in yourself that something is bothering you, share it with others that feel the same way and try to make a collective change.”

Kelley said in her presentation that it is crucial to understand the historical context of the threatening messages to move forward.

“History can serve as a script for how we understand contemporary society,” she said.

Kelley also said she hopes the University will continue to push educational efforts to make campuse more diverse.

“I hope that there is some greater educational effort. An effort to put people in a room with one another and talk abotu history and not wrap it up as quickly as possible,” she said. “It needs to be unwrapped and talked about and thought about.”