US university apologises for creating segregated events for whites and POCs

A US university has issued an apology for creating online separate cafes for white people and blacks.

The apology from the University of Michigan-Dearborn near Detroit came after two virtual events were held on Tuesday, with one advertised as "non-POC (people of colour) cafe" for discussing their experience as students in the college and as non-POC outside the campus.

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The second event was also organised on similar lines and was named as "BIOPIC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) Cafe" and promoted as a forum for "marginalised racial/ethnic/cultural communities" to gather and put forward their experiences in the college and in the outside world, as reported by news agency AP.

The university, in its statement, said that they apologise for referring the sessions as "cafes", but insisted, they were not intended to be exclusive or exclusionary for any particular race.

Its Vice-Chancellor Ken Kettenbeil said that the use of word "cafe" created much confusion, and people thought two separated cafes are built to segregate communities from each other.

"The terms used to describe these virtual events and the descriptions themselves were not clear and not reflective of the university''s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion," the statement said.