Higher education has always operated in a very cyclical nature. Last year, even as the world was shaken with a global health pandemic, and colleges and universities were forced to develop sustainable programs for distance learning, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) students, and arguably everyone, experienced another pandemic: the inhumane and cruel loss of Black lives. It should not go unnoticed that as the world experienced so much loss from COVID-19, BIPOC people were experiencing a very grey world. Grief became performative, and performing this grief became a determinant of how "woke" an individual was. This article discusses that higher education (the academy, its administrators, etc.) must take responsibility for doing the work to transform higher education into an environment that inherently fosters an inclusive, equitable and safe environment for BIPOC students, staff and faculty.