By Josh Siatkowski | Staff Writer
Baylor will now explicitly prohibit discrimination based on hair after a joint effort led by Baylor student government, the ROOTS Natural Hair Club and the Office of Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX revised university policy.
Representatives of each of the three groups met Friday to ceremonially sign the policy into effect. The initiative began with a November 2024 student government proposal titled the CROWN Act, which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair and bans discrimination based on hair. Upon its 37-0 passing in student senate, the university policy was officially revised to reflect this change on Feb. 22. Seven weeks later, the celebration took place.
Westport, Conn., sophomore and student senator Spencer Yim authored the bill and said it would create a lasting solution to the long-existing problem of hair based discrimination.
“In the official Civil Rights Policy for Baylor University — in the non-discrimination statement — there’s now official language that includes explicit protections against discrimination based on hairstyle that will live on for many years to come,” Yim said. “It’s hopefully going to be a cure for a problem that the nation has gone through for a long time.”
Instances of Black student-athletes being forced to cut their dreadlocks to compete and the prohibition of braids in some public schools have led 24 states to pass CROWN Acts of their own as of June 2023. As chair of the senate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, Yim built relationships with the Office of Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX Equity as well as student-led cultural organizations. The idea for a Baylor CROWN Act came from discussion with San Antonio senior Clarisse Merced, president of Baylor’s natural hair club, ROOTS.
“We talked with … the ROOTS organization to learn about the experiences that students have had on campus and really across the nation for too many years,” Yim said. “The implicit bias still exists for students based on natural hair and hair texture. And as a faith-based institution, I don’t think there’s a better way for us to signal to the rest of the universities across the nation that this is something we take super seriously.”
Merced, who signed the document on behalf of ROOTS, said although most students won’t be affected by the change, she sees it as an important milestone.
“I know this may not seem like something that’s making an impact, but I’m sure it will make an impact in the future and make a difference to the students on campus,” Merced said.
Alongside Merced and Yim, two Baylor staff members were also present: Dr. Sharra Hynes, senior associate vice president and dean of students, and Dr. Laura Johnson, associate vice president for equity. Both expressed admiration for Yim and Merced and said the change would take much longer to happen if it was not for their commitment.
“I don’t know that that exact language would have been in there had it not been for the good work both of [student government] and the incredible team that I have,” Johnson said.
“At an administrative level, it would take multiple years to create this kind of collaboration,” said Hynes, who will replace Dr. Kevin Jackson as vice president for student life next year. “But when students lead the way, things get done.”
