Faculty and Staff Voices
UC Davis Native American Studies Department
April 6, 2021–"[We] offer our heartfelt support and sympathy to the victims, families, and communities in Atlanta, to our colleagues in Asian American Studies, and to all members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities at UC Davis and beyond who have been severely affected by the recent mass shooting of eight people, most of them women of Asian descent, in Atlanta on March 16. We are especially appreciative of the powerful statement already issued by the African American and African Studies Department offering important historical context and outlining the extent of racially-motivated violence targeting AAPI individuals and communities around the country." Please read the full statement here.
UC Davis African American & African Studies Department
March 23, 2021–"We stand with our brothers and sisters in condemning any and all acts of bias from any and all sources against the AAPI community (whether they are designated as hate “incidents” or hate “crimes”). We call on public officials in the state of Georgia as well as in communities across the United States to demonstrate that they take these occurrences seriously by providing increased protection to members of the AAPI community, providing whatever they may request to help ensure their safety and sense of security." Please read the full statement here.
UC Davis Asian Pacific American Systemwide Alliance
March 19, 2021–"This is probably one of the most difficult emails our board members have had to write. We carry sadness, frustration, anger, and heaviness in our hearts as we think about the 8 people killed, especially the 6 women of Asian descent, in the Atlanta-area spa shootings on Tuesday, March 16, 2021." Please read the full statement here.
-
FUTURE Action Plan in Support of UCD's Black PhD Students and Postdocs
-
We recognize that anti-Black racism has shaped the systems we learn and work in. We know that the transition from training to career is a high-stakes moment and that much advice for this moment assumes a particularly privileged subject: white, and also cis, straight, non-disabled, non-primary-caregiver, etc.
As Professor Jasmine Roberts and many others have showed us, we need to do better (1).
As a career exploration program, we must work to mitigate the isolating and confidence-eroding effects of these systems faced by the Black researchers-in-training at UC Davis and also to amplify Black researchers’ career achievements in all fields and sectors. We plan to mobilize our program resources to this work, specifically our spaces, networks, expertise, and access to decision makers in our field.
Supporting the Black members of our program’s community is central to the relevance and accessibility of our program, and we have incorporated this work into FUTURE’s 2020-21 Strategic Plan. But confronting anti-Black racism in our context is not a one-year project, but a much longer process in which we will continually revise our plan and publish new actions each year.
PUBLIC PLAN:
1. Consult with our Black membership about their experience in our program and their needs/vision
2. Grow our partner network to include and amplify more Black professionals
3. Offer personal connections from among our own professional relationships
4. Offer partnership to the organizations that are already serving Black researchers-in-training at UC Davis: a) amplifying their programing through our platforms and collaboration and b) making membership in the FUTURE program more visible and welcoming to their constituents c) demonstrating how our resources (partner network, staff expertise, etc.) might be useful to their constituents beyond those involved in health-related research
5. Tune our mentorship program to better address issues of race, identity, and work
6. Include persistent links to national reporting structures to address the discrimination and harassment that disproportionately affect Black researchers in the Digest
_____________________
(1)Roberts, Jasmine. "White Academia: Do Better. Higher education has a problem. It’s called White supremacy." Medium.com/TheFaculty, 8 June 2020. Web. 14 July 2020.
Campus Centers
Student Voices | Valencia G. Scott, Class of 2020
Valencia G. Scott is part of the 2019-2020 Chancellor’s Undergraduate Advisory Board, and a 2019-2020 Student Advisor to the Chancellor in the Office of Chancellor Gary S. May, Davis. Valencia authored this document and offered it as “Administrative Suggestions for Black Community Support.” (Posted with permission, 7/1/20)