From the Vice Provost
Dear DEM Team,
First, I want to thank you all for your continued service to our students and campus throughout these incredibly challenging times.
Two weeks ago, Gabe Javier, Associate Vice Chancellor for Identity and Inclusion, and his team facilitated processing sessions for DEM team members following the death of George Floyd and the resulting anguish with our challenges learning about, and combating, the institutional and systemic racism in our own institution, community and country. More DEM-wide activities are being developed in addition to the important work going on in our offices (i.e. Admissions and Recruitment, Registrar, Financial Aid, and divisional office) focusing on anti-racism, racial and social justice, identity, privilege and oppression. This educational foundation is critical to our taking action as we move forward together.
We are benefited by the tensions that these difficult conversations surface and the opportunity to build a better community working side-by-side in partnership, humility, kindness and support. To be clear, this is an area where we, as individuals, offices, the university and community, need significant work. I, along with the directors, will do this work and we will need every member of our division to join us in this work. Although we will not be perfect in all of our attempts, we commit to being steadfast, transparent, and unafraid of tackling issues that divide, degrade or deepen the inequities wherever we stand.
In closing, I want to share a few videos that have resonated with colleagues in the division.
- The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Adichie
- How to Overcome Our Biases? Walk Boldly Toward Them by Verna Myers
- Color Blind or Color Brave by Mellody Hobson