Emboldened by the resignation of the University of Missouri's president over the school's handling of racist incidents, students from Yale to Vanderbilt have been staging protests to call attention to racism on college campuses. On Thursday, hundreds of students at Columbia University did so as well, gathering to raise awareness about experiences with racism there.

"How many people have been called the wrong name?" second-year law student Brandee Blocker asked the crowd of students, huddled around in a half circle. "How many people have been the other black girl in the room, or the other black or brown person that gets called by the other person's name?"

The racially diverse group snapped their fingers in agreement. They wore mostly black clothes in a sign of solidarity with other student protesters around the country, and they held signs that read, "#blacklivesmatter" and "Students in Solidarity with Mizzou." They took turns standing in the middle of the crowd sharing stories of micro-aggressions — or covert racism — on campus and in the classroom.

Ashlye Horton, 25, studies in the School of Social Work and said the problem she sees is that students and teachers often avoid discussing racism altogether.

"There's very few classes where I can feel like I can talk about race. When I try to talk about it students shut me down and say 'Well that's not about race,'" she said. "I get shut down so often I just don't even speak up, or, I'll be told if I'm the only black person in the class, which usually happens, I'm told to give my experience as a black person."

But Blocker, the law student, said she's also been the victim of more overt racism at Columbia. Speaking to the crowd, she told them she had been sexually assaulted by a fellow law school student, who was also black, and that the school told her to wait 3 weeks before reporting it.

"They told me that I should go to the chaplain's office instead of reporting my assailant formally, out of racial solidarity," she said.

She's organizing a meeting with administrators to discuss the incident further.

In a statement, the University said it is "committed to protecting students' privacy and doing all we can to insure that students feel comfortable accessing Columbia's resources, which is why we do not comment on individual students cases while also protecting students' right to free expression."

Regarding the protests over alleged incidents of racism, the school's statement said, "faculty and students at many schools, including Columbia, are actively engaged in conversations — and have been for some time — about communicating across differences, including differences related to race and ethnicity, and finding ways to create a university community in which all can have a sense of belonging."

The protesters vowed to hold more protests in the coming days.