Incidents of racism at local colleges have prompted groups at one school to reach out to fellow students.

"We can't allow this racist incidents in a public higher education institution," said Javier Borrero, a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts.
One by one, students and faculty of all races and ethnicities packed a classroom in the Student Center at the Amherst campus Wednesday afternoon. Some came to teach, while others came to learn.

This comes after an incident of alleged racism occurred at an off-campus party at UMass, where a Hispanic student reportedly wore black face paint and dressed up as an African American slave. A similar case was reported at Smith College, where two students dressed up in black face to imitate Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown at a Halloween party.

Students at UMass say they took matters into their own hands after they say school administrators pushed the issue under the rug.

"The university jumped in on the side of the people who did the racist acts and there is no objective investigation, and as a result people were silenced," said Matt Goodwin, a UMass graduate student. "People were actually told by some faculty members not to talk about this."

A UMass spokesperson was unaware of Wednesday's forum and could not comment on it. Other students who attended say they feel comfortable with how the university is handling issues of racism.

"If those allegations are being made and there's a notion that the school is asking people to keep them quiet then I challenge those people to name names and to talk about it very specifically and talk about the people sweeping it under the rug specifically, because I don't buy it for a second," said Brad DeFlumeri, a UMass student.

Professors and faculty joined in Wednesday's discussion. They say it is important to reach out to educate and make others aware of what is appropriate and what is offensive.

"I'm here to help people get a better perspective on some of the incidents that have recently occurred," said Enoch Page, a professor of Anthropology at UMass. "Some people perceive them as racist and others don't. A lot of it has to do with what people constitute as racism."

UMass says the university will hold a series of workshops to help address racism concerns on the campus.