A Reflection on Pride Month 2021 at the University of Oregon As the old saying goes, you can’t know your future without knowing your past. During Pride Month, this is especially pertinent. We can never forget that Pride was born from resistance. Specifically, it originates from the Stonewall Uprising of 1969. This tide-changing act of rebellion occurred when patrons of the Stonewall Inn, a queer bar in New York, fought back against police who were raiding the gathering spot, which was common at the time because “homosexual acts” were illegal in almost every state.
ADPI Heritage Month Has a New Sense of Urgency in 2021 This time last year, we were still in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Daily life as we knew it was changing and many throughout the United States reacted in an unfortunate, but predictable way by engaging in racial scapegoating. The virus’s origins in China were used as justification for broad anti-Asian sentiment and many of us warned that this hateful, reactionary rhetoric would lead to increased harassment and violence in real life. Sure enough, anti-Asian hate crimes rapidly increased, but fast forward to 2021 and things have taken an even more grim turn.
Loving Our Asian, Desi, and Pacific Islander American Brothers and Sisters As We Love Ourselves A popular racist myth is that Asian Americans are the “model minority”, rising above the prejudice and discrimination that is baked into American history and contemporary life. Yet, recent spikes in anti-Asian violence -- including the recent tragic murder of six Asian-American women-- call for fresh eyes to see the familiar, but often unacknowledged story in America's ongoing drama of hate, coupled with the violence that it begets. Love, indeed, is a proven antidote to darkness and the brazen racial hatred that threaten to unravel our society.
IDEAL: Our Roadmap for a Fully-Inclusive and Resilient Campus ]In Spring term of 2017, the UO launched the IDEALii framework, activating Diversity Action Plans (DAPs) in 35 units, with the audacious goal of implementing 657 tactics. Just 2.5 years later: • 58% of DAP tactics were met or in progress. • Our top DAP focus areas: improving departmental climate, student success, professional development and community outreach. • Our top three focal groups: undergraduate or graduate students, campus at large, and staff. Very few protected classes received targeted focus.
Native American Heritage Month 2020 by Yvette Alex-Assensoh, Vice President for Equity and Inclusion 2020 has been a year of clarity. One of the most important examples of clarity, specifically in regards to ignoring lessons from history, was the spread of wildfires up and down the west coast of the United States. This trend of both the fires growing every year and our collective society choosing to accept this reality seemed to have no end in sight. Then something both surprising and predictable happened. The fires got so bad and became so widespread no one could ignore them anywhere. For days, parts of Oregon recorded the worst air quality of any cities on Earth.
Black Out Wednesday Dear Colleagues Below, please find recommendations for Black Out Wednesday. Since we are a community that values knowledge production and lifelong learning, I recommend that we use the time to become more informed, and also to act in appropriately courageous ways. Begin with the questions and tips below:What do we know about anti-blackness and anti-racism? How are we complicit in perpetuating it?
Marching Forever, But Going Nowhere Reprinted from the Register-GuardOpinion: Posted Jun 7, 2020 at 12:01 AMFor centuries, black people have been the proverbial canaries of the American coal mine, literally sacrificing their lives to warn others of toxic conditions that must be cleared to ensure abundant and healthy lives. COVID-19 has made more commonplace, throughout America, the death and trauma that are all too familiar in our ghettos, reservations and barrios, with its heaviest toll being among people of color and women.
Gratitude, Student Success for all and Faculty Selfcare: A message to faculty Dear Colleagues:As a tenured faculty colleague who is currently teaching a course in our School of Law, I’ve experienced firsthand the panic of suddenly transitioning to the remote-teaching environment in mid-semester. I want to echo the messages of gratitude from President Schill and Provost Phillips, and offer my appreciation for all of the sacrifices that you are already making to ensure that all of our students continue to receive a high-quality education at the UO.
