The tragic event of George Floyd’s murder and the emotions expressed as a result have reinforced how critically important it is for our nation to confront the persistent racism that has been present in our society for 400 years. If we ever hope to overcome the injustices faced by so many of our fellow Americans, we must engage with a renewed sense of purpose and commitment in an open and honest dialogue.
The moment is here. It is now.
Universities and colleges, including our 14 institutions, have a vital role to play here. Across our campuses and in our classrooms, people from every walk of life can come together and learn by listening to and engaging with one another, no matter their different perspectives, backgrounds, and opinions. People debate – sometimes uncomfortably – their very different ideas and world views. And through that debate, they manage more often than not to achieve new levels of understanding and to foster acceptance, tolerance, and compassion. Our universities are one of the few places left in our society that can foster this kind of engagement as a matter of mission and to do so in the interest of training the next generation of leaders, building a better future for our Commonwealth and our country.
However difficult this course, our universities remain committed to it. I am committed to it. I invite all of you to make that commitment, too.
During the past several days, I will admit to you that my irrepressible optimism has been tested. All of us have experienced so many emotions – anger, fear, worry, hope – as troubling events across the country and in our home towns have unfolded. Let’s choose to be comforted by the work of our universities in addressing these issues head on and constructively. Let’s choose to be comforted by the words of the famous gospel song “We Shall Overcome”. Let’s choose to be comforted by believing we have to overcome because the world we leave to our children through our failure is not one in which we want them to live. The choice to leave a better, more tolerant world is in front of us, and it can begin at our universities and colleges. I invite you to join me in making that choice.
I appreciate the message, but we need more. As white people, we can choose to be "comforted." Black people cannot be comforted when they are terrified to go out of their house or get pulled over. As Ahmed Ali@MrAhmednurAli said "it's a privilege to learn about racism instead of experiencing it your whole life." And as Professor Fleming (@alwaystheself) said "I expect ALL white anti-racists who have built their careers situating themselves as 'allies' or racial justice experts to be front and center publicly explaining how they are elevating the voices, knowledge and well-being of Black people, individually and collectively, right now." We must do better.
ReplyDeleteNo longer chair--sorry about the wrong title
DeleteSue, I agree with your call for our scholars to come out of the ivory tower and into the streets (see below).
DeletePASSHE has incredible resources for this moment, but our mission needs to extend beyond our classrooms and campuses. PASSHE's professors need to step up to be the "public intellectuals" that Stuart Hall called for within our communities.
ReplyDeleteTo create this shift, PASSHE needs to value and endorse Boyer's "scholarship of engagement" so that our scholars will use their considerable expertise to address the issues of our historical moment in public fora rather than at professional conferences.
To teach our students effectively, the Pennsylvania legislature needs to commit the resources to develop our students' competencies in discussion, debate, and argument so that these essential conversations can be productive. Without the funding for teachers, the extant teachers will be overwhelmed with large class sizes, forcing a negative impact on learning and contributions to the community.
To what extent have the white (and white presenting faculty) explored their white fragility, white privilege, and whiteness? While those scholars may be subject matter experts with considerable expertise, I am not sure many have unpacked all of those things I just mentioned. On 'addressing the issues of our historical moment': be specific, even if it is lengthy. Is it the racist and unjust systems that continue to oppress BIPOC? Is it Police Brutality? Is it the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tamir Rice, and some many more? Is it the regional and national protests? Avoiding naming these things is your whiteness showing, and is erasure. I agree, let's do this all in public. Let everyone (faculty and staff of the entire system) actively demonstrate being anti-bias and anti-racist in all that we do. I do not trust the PA legislature, nor do I expect them to offer a commitment of resources to you, or me, and anyone in our positions. And it is not about developing our students' competencies either. Our BIPOC students, faculty, and staff have risen to this moment, have lived this experience, and it is a privilege for you and me to even have this discourse without it having ever lived that experience. Our BIPOC students, faculty, and staff are in the streets, shouting for their lives, demanding that their lives matter. There is no debate, no discussion to be had on this: Black Lives Matter. I agree, and the research shows that smaller class sizes enhance the learning experience for students, but that doesn't stop the racist systems continuing to oppress BIPOC students. Larger class sizes have no bearing on those racist systems either, they are still there regardless of class size. You know what research has told us regarding the the biggest impact on any student in those classrooms? It is the person at the front. Faculty, specifically the white and white presenting faculty, predominantly employed by the system, need to work to become anti-racist and anti-bias in their learning, the construction of their curriculum, and all that they say, do, write, and think, and they need to actively demonstrate that every day, in public.
DeleteNow is the perfect time for PaSSHE to review the training of all public safety and law enforcement personnel hired or contracted by PaSSHE schools. Ensure or reassure that students, staff and faculty are protected and served by individuals properly trained in implicit biases, use of force and community policing. Ensure or reassure that PaSSHE schools recruit people of color in the ranks of public safety and law enforcement.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Black Lives Matter.
Not sure what's up for debate. This is a time for us to listen and acknowledge. This is the time for moral courage. This is a time to confront racism on our college campuses. And instead, what I'm seeing is the state system playing it safe and being unwilling to take any risks. The students are watching, PASSHE. They are paying attention.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your message. I will continue to live in kindness, understanding, compassion and love. I'm hopeful by being a positive living example of how to treat others, especially those who are mistreated....the world will be a better place to live.
ReplyDeleteRespectfully, who is the 'we' in your statement? Because Native, Black and other Students, Faculty, and Staff of Color have seen and lived the persistent racism you speak of in our society. It is an already known thing of their lives, whereas with you and me, as white cis-gender men, we do need to do the work, and then be a part of the dialogue to take action. Choosing comfort is a privilege. Those Native, Black, Students, Staff, and Faculty of Color do not have the choice for comfort when they are confronted daily by and unjust and racist system. 'Making the choice' is a privilege. For the Native, Black, Faculty, Staff, and Students of Color, they don't get to make a choice.
ReplyDeleteLet's listen to the Native, Black, and People of Color, whether faculty, staff, or student. Let's then work to dismantle the unjust and racist system we uphold (and have upheld.) Let's work to affirm the lives, lived experiences, words, thoughts, and actions of Indigenous, Black, and other People of Color.
- an average, white, cisgender male staff employee of the State System.
To the staff employee--agreed! and I'm listening....
DeleteI couldn't agree more. It's time to listen to our brothers, sisters, and loved ones of color. It's time to be the change. What that change is can only be identified by listening to the experiences of POC. How can PASSHE do their part to open and foster that dialog?
DeleteDr. Young and Holly (and the other commentors),
DeleteAs I have reflected on the words I have shared, and those of the others in the comments, Dr. Greenstein, and most recently by Holly: we need to push and demand action now. To suggest that dialogue as a start is dismissive of the social dialogue, work, and lived experiences of BIPOC who are being murdered in the streets, and who are being oppressed by systems designed to support and uphold white supremacy. Stating that 'it is dialogue that is needed first', is my privilege being shown, as well as the rest of us.
As Dr. Hannah Ashley shared, "If you don't say the word White, you can't end White supremacy. If you don't say the word resources, you can't commit them to ending racism." We need to name it, and commit to and demand action now and stand with BIPOC in this action now. We (white people) have to assert our privilege when other white people resist this action: Are we ready to do this publicly and privately?
White people: we cannot act to dismantle racist systems and be anti-racist if we haven't dismantled and interrogated our own thoughts on racism, examining our whiteness, our white privilege, and our white fragility.
White staff, faculty and school administrators: we cannot act to dismantle systemic oppression in our school systems and build an anti-racist school culture if we haven't dismantled and interrogated our own thoughts on racism, examining our whiteness, our white privilege,+ our white fragility.
Once that happens, how do we work to center the voices (work, actions, ideas) of BIPOC in all of the work and action? How will we use our privilege when other white people pushback on the dismantling of systems that have been centered on white supremacy?
I shared above about whiteness, white privilege, white fragility. Here are 2 resources I found in my learning, to help you contextualize all of it in case you have not yet.
1)From the National Museum of African American History and Culture: https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics/whiteness
2)From Tolerance.org https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/summer-2019/whats-my-complicity-talking-white-fragility-with-robin-diangelo
These are great resources! Thank you for this.
DeleteIt really does come down to action, and checking ourselves (white people) - our conversations, our actions, what we've been taught is "normal" or "better" - because most is steeped in whiteness and MUST be questioned to move forward and eradicate the systematic racism. We must move past our fragile egos and accept fault, to find ways to continue learning and being the change our (humanity's) future needs.
ESU is per capita the second most diverse campus in the System--a great achievement, especially since several decades ago, we were the opposite. With progress comes opportunity. ESU has no African American Studies department (or a department with a different name and similar function). In this era of fiscal emergency, it is difficult to justify new programs--except, perhaps, for this one, both at ESU and at other schools with the same gap. Racism is complex and important. Study of such a relevant topic would help students and campuses grow intellectually; and obviously, our society needs leaders who can help end our nation's systemic racism. I hope there is some way that the Chancellor, Board of Governors, governor--all of the above--can find ways to foster such programs, even if only for the short-sighted reason that they would draw students of color to our campuses. Our "renewed sense of purpose," as the chancellor puts it, needs to become tangible. Programmatic development about race in America, no matter what form it takes, might be the best way to make that happen.
ReplyDeleteIn brief: If you don't say the word White, you can't end White supremacy. If you don't say the word resources, you can't commit them to ending racism. This is a which side are you on moment.
ReplyDelete--Dr. Hannah Ashley, Youth Empowerment & Urban Studies program director, WCU
You say you want open dialogue which is easy to say. But you don't give any ideas for achieving change. You want to foster tolerance, compassion, and acceptance no matter how difficult. What proposals do you have that represent a difficult challenge towards achieving this goal? Thousands of us want these things already. We have an abundance of tolerance, compassion, and acceptance among faculty, students, and administrators. If you want real change on campuses, we must make sure those attitudes go out into society with our students when they leave. To do that, you must commit to lowering tuitions and providing grant money for students so they can focus on the humanities without accumulating huge debts and reduced prospects for employment. Universities are not only responsible to students' independent goals. We also have a responsibility in a democracy to provide a deep understanding of our history, culture, and ideas to continually enrich the society. If we don't reverse the shocking declines in students interested in these areas and work to provide them opportunities, understanding, tolerance, and compassion will also decline and we will continue to see the rise of narrow oppressive viewpoints. Don't simply tell us you'll do the hard work to make the change, start making real change. Tom Slater, English, IUP
ReplyDeleteHave you asked BIPOC students how tolerate your peers have been? What statistic demonstrates this tolerance? How have the institutions affirmed the thoughts of students in the system? What do the students, specifically BIPOC students, share in regards to tolerance they see from faculty, if they have or if they haven't? "A deep understanding of our history, culture, and ideas': who is centered in that statement? Who is our? Do you think students who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color don't already come to our schools knowing that history, having a sense of their culture, and the racist systems that already in place? Have you and other faculty considered how white-washed the humanities curriculum may be? Do BIPOC see themselves in that curriculum, in the authors, in the learning? How may that play a role in declining enrollment, specifically with BIPOC students, in the humanities? And those narrow oppressive viewpoints you talk about, come from white students and white people specifically, who look to use language as the tool of the oppressor and hold onto the white dominated society and systems that prop up only white people. You are also speaking about a few of the oppressive systems that are inherently racist: student loans and employment/job seeking, and thinking that just by lowering tuition and providing grant money solves those systems. Respectfully, just because the opportunity is there does not make those systems any less racist and oppressive.
DeleteI agree with an earlier message - living in kindness, understanding, compassion and love is essential. At this point in addition, I need to encourage dialog, ask questions, listen and speak out. Where ever I am and whatever my role is at the moment I have a duty to help heal my neighbor, our students, our nation. Europe has enjoyed 70 years of peace after enduring 2 World Wars. America is a great Nation. We can do this. I stand with so many for justice, equality and peace. Margarete Hahn, BU
ReplyDeleteDear Chancellor,
ReplyDeleteI applaud your effort to promote healthy conversations that will enable our universities to continue to grow and serve all students and faculty in an equitable and respectful environment. These recent turn of events in our world are so disturbing, but the hope of a better tomorrow for all is encouraging.
As conversations ensue, I'd like to ask that we not only look at racism re: color, but we also include the sensitivity and respect that needs to be given to individuals with disabilities as well. Being a working professional, husband and father who happens to be deaf, I have personally encountered barriers in communications, not being promoted, or appointed to important committees. These are just a few examples where if there was a better understanding of different communication styles, there might have been a more equitable and positive outcome.
I'm not writing to complain, just to ask as you promote these discussions to reduce/eliminate racism, that you include prejudice against individuals with disabilities. In the deaf world, it is called "audism" - racism dealing with those with auditory disabilities.
I understand the black communty's feeling, Deaf people go through same incidents as the black community.
I'd be happy to have a further conversation with you if you so desire. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
James Ahearn
James Ahearn