Black Lives Matter and George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minnesota police hit pretty close to home this week.

Slippery Rock University had at least two incidents of strong commentary promoted across social media that stirred a lot of emotions within the SRU community and supporters.

One student — now a former student — posted an extremely ugly, racist rant that became widely circulated. He has dropped out of SRU of his own accord. Thank you very much on behalf of all of us.

The second was by a young woman who seemed to believe her comments were taken out of context, and also claimed the content was altered by the person who reposted them.

After reading her comments, we see she has a lot to learn about the issue before she should post more thoughts on it. She downplays the rallying cry of “Black Lives Matter” by saying all lives matter.

Until people grasp the fact that persons of color do not feel that black lives do matter in the same fashion and to the same extent as white lives, then we haven’t reached the point that black lives matter, so therefore all lives don’t matter.

The silver lining in this is the reaction of SRU President William Behre, who responds strongly and with much concern for the students and the university, but we feel his intent that the students are what is most important, and not the reputation of the school or the importance of future dollars to be donated.

The university has been proactive in recent years with the plight of LBGTQ+ students. It recognized a need to support and encourage them, and has been making efforts to ensure its safety and acceptance on campus.

We can expect the same dedication and intent from Behre and his leadership group now.

The law limits the ability of the university to punish students for this type of action and behavior. We also have very positive thoughts for Donovan Ford, president of SRU’s Black Action Society, and his commitment to change on the SRU campus. He makes it clear he expects change and wants it now.

Not over-reacting and getting into lawsuits can be viewed as not caring or not doing enough by those feeling wronged, but SRU is tackling this correctly.

What better place to extend the reach of education concerning racism and hate than a university? Teaching and training is what they do every day. It may not happen as quickly as any of us want, but we feel confident that the students, including Donovan Ford, the faculty and the administration will become leaders in the process of bringing these issues peacefully, but emphatically, to the community they serve and the country they love.