Georgia Southern University joined Mizzou in the efforts to raise awareness of racial issues this past week.

The Georgia Southern chapter of the NAACP sent in a list of demands to the university on November 16, 2015 and had planned a sit in and a walk out in solidarity with what has been going on in Missouri. The walk out, which took place on November 17, called for students dressed in all black to walk out of class and meet in the Russell Union. The sit in, which took place the following day, simply consisted of students sitting in the Union in support of one another.

The list of demands is as follows:

The word around campus last week had been that the list of demands and the protests, which took place at the Russell Union, had come about in response to some racist comments posted on Facebook by a fellow Georgia Southern student. There was even a hashtag created to house the rather heated comments regarding the posts. However, the timing of these Facebook posts was sheer coincidence.

"The comments were not a catalyst for the demonstrations. They only helped to make the point," said Major Woodall, president of the NAACP chapter at Georgia Southern University. However, the comments did encourage some other students to get involved with the walk out and the sit in on campus this week that might not have been involved otherwise.

The NAACP at Southern has been working diligently for the past few years to help with racial issues within the community, and it just so happens that this time their efforts received more attention than usual.

The university has handled the protests and comments from both sides of the issue very well, particularly when reminding students that we are an Eagle Family.