Graduation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison: Communicating Science
Jared Thornton’s love of learning about animals of all shapes and forms led him to earn a degree in zoology despite the micro-aggressions that he experienced along the way.
By Jonathan Gramling
Jared Thornton, a PEOPLE Scholar who graduated with a degree in zoology from UW-Madison this fall, took full advantage of the educational resources and classes to grow into a career that he hopes begins as a researcher for WI Dept. of Natural Resources. UW-Madison academia has helped Thornton reach the next level of his career. And Thornton’s advice to students coming after him is to speak up, whether it has to do with difficult classes, isolation, mental health and other challenges that students experience.
“My general advice would be to speak up and that goes for all sorts of different endeavors,” Thornton said. “It speaks to the Wisconsin Ideal of being the change you want to see in your community and leading that. And I think the first step in that is to speak up in the sense of being a student in class. I remember being a freshman and being scared to talk to my teachers. Coming from my school to a place like this, it was almost daunting to see professors. Speak up if you need help. Usually, for the most part, they will help you. I’ve had my fair share of helpful professors. As long as you speak up and you let them know, they’ll listen. And in the sense of your friends and your community, speak up for when you feel you need help. One of the unfortunate things about being a student is how stressful it is. First hand, I’ve seen the effect it can have on students. There was a girl in my class last year who was struggling with school work and being a student athlete. She ended up taking her own life. I just don’t want anyone to be in that position where they feel that school is the reason that they can’t live essentially. So speak up if you feel you are falling behind or whatever. Your friends will help you.”
Thornton also felt that it was important for Black UW-Madison students to speak out about the negative racist video that aired on social media. In many ways, Black students on the UW-Madison campus are isolated from each other, often times being the “only one” in their classes. The marches that occurred at the beginning of May allowed the students to feel connected and appreciate some of their shared experiences.
“Say what you believe is right,” Thornton would encourage students to do. “Seeing what my friends have done in leadership roles in the Black Pwr Coalition — one of my friends was a big protestor during the whole Black Lives Matter-George Floyd
era — just being around people who are willing to speak up for other people and put themselves on the line is inspiring. So just speak up would be my biggest things. I have friends who spoke about that. In general, due to the pandemic and the whole George Floyd protests, I think it made a lot of people a little more conscious about their actions in relation to race. I feel following that, it was less overt stuff.”
But conditions seem to be falling back in place to their pre-pandemic state. A recent public opinion poll stated that there is less support now for the Black Lives Matter movement than there was during the pandemic. And recently Assembly Speaker Robin Vos introduced legislation to force UW System universities to end their diversity, equity and inclusion programming. And the incidents continue to happen.
“However, just last week with the video and everything, I feel like discussions about race on campus emboldens people on the same point,” Thornton said. “That Thursday after the video came out, my friends and I were just having a good time and some of my friends were walking home on the street that I live on next to the Lowell Center on their way back to their dorm, two me started yelling and throwing stuff at them and calling the n-words. They spoke up and called us down and the two guys were arrested. I think some charges were brought against them. I know they are investigating it still. That makes me kind of worried about where this campus goes in the future.”
While the racist video may have been a rare occurrence, at least the level of visibility it received, Thornton feels that it represents the feelings of other students on campus.
“These events like the one in the video are not uncommon,” Thornton said. “The video showed people there are students on this campus who do feel that way. It proves to students of color that people do have these thoughts and they do sit next to you in class. Moving to the future, I just hope there are better actions to be taken. It is almost an every semester kind of thing where there are these incidents that put students of color in these predicaments where they have to feel unsafe. Just last year, on the Essence floor dedicated to Black students, a space for Black students to feel safe, four students left a monkey with a noose around its neck. You don’t hear about that anymore because the university just kind of glosses it over. Because I’m graduating, I’ve been thinking about all of the incidents happening that are glossed over. Once you put it all together and accumulate it all and look at it, there really isn’t any change happening to really address it.”
And so the great and bad aspects of being a Black UW-Madison student is not lost on Thornton. This summer, he will be a counselor in the PEOPLE Program high school summer program. How to frame his UW-Madison experience is a quandary for Thornton.
“How am I supposed to tell students who are Black that pretty much every semester there is something that is going to happen that puts them at risk for being targeted for their race essentially,” Thornton queried. “It’s something that I have been musing over. How do I properly warn students whom I have worked with, students who go through the same program as me that this is a great opportunity, but you are going to have to deal with these things if you come here? It is kind of sad. Students shouldn’t have to go through that to come to school.”
UW-Madison has prepared Thornton well for life beyond college as he begins his career, in ways both intended and not intended. Fortunately and unfortunately, he is well-prepared.
