SR 20-10 - Resolution on Anti-Racist Actions to Realize the Truth that Black Lives Matter

WHEREAS policies, practices, and formations of culture have unintentional or accumulative effects that contribute to inequality and exclusion; and

WHEREAS CSU Channel Islands has frequently affirmed in multiple venues that we collectively value equity, fairness, and opportunity for all we serve (see for example Senate Resolution 11-03 “Resolution to Advance the Ethnic and Racial Diversity of Faculty, Staff, and Administrators from Historically Underrepresented Groups”), and yet there is a significant gap between our stated ideals and the lived experiences of Black/African American persons on our campus; and

WHEREAS it is the responsibility of every member of the campus community to create and live up to the ideals we have set as a campus, especially the ideal of equity for all; and

WHEREAS the CSU Channel Islands Black Faculty and Staff Association called on the Senate in June 2020 to develop specific plans with timeframes and implementation dates reflecting the urgent need to actively identify and eradicate any institutional structures, processes, and practices that allow racism to persist; and

WHEREAS the CSU Channel Islands Black Faculty and Staff Association called on the Senate to identify the specific structural/institutional practices that the Senate will target in its efforts to increase a sense of belonging within the CI campus community for Black/African American students, staff, and faculty; and

WHEREAS the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate at CSU Channel Islands committed in a July 20, 2020 statement, on behalf of our faculty, to exercise the full extent of our authority to realize the truth that Black Lives Matter; and

WHEREAS the Constitution of the Academic Senate gives that body the power to lead and establish policy on matters including but not limited to faculty hiring; retention, tenure and, promotion (RTP); and curriculum; and

WHEREAS no Senate standing committee charged with oversight on matters of equity and anti-racist actions in Senate business currently exists; and

WHEREAS the Academic Senate understands that creating a university culture in which Black Lives Matters requires transforming institutional practices and policies around hiring of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) faculty and staff, systemic inclusion of BIPOC faculty and staff within the university culture and within decision-making bodies at the administrative and executive levels; and

WHEREAS if the Academic Senates does not take actions to transform our institutional culture and to dismantle practices that enact inequities, the stakes are the unacceptable perpetuation of structures of inequality and injustice; of systems of exclusion and marginalization rooted in white supremacy; of anti-black practices; and of the undervaluing of black belonging, equitable representation, and institutional transformation that centers the eradication of pervasive racism; and

WHEREAS faculty should lead anti-racist structural and cultural changes through the creation of action-focused policies and Senate Committee charges, and advocate for change in other units of the University. This leadership involves work to be done by all of us in the campus community related to, among other things, curriculum, hiring, evaluation, professional development, retention and promotion, and our mission; and

WHEREAS manifestations of white supremacy and oppressive and racist assumptions, ideologies, and perspectives have shaped knowledge and curriculum in all academic disciplines, and it is therefore imperative to re-center our curriculum on historically silenced and marginalized voices, disciplines, and ways of knowing in order to cease reinforcing default Eurocentrism, oppression, and white privilege; and

WHEREAS increased racial/ethnic influence and representation among faculty has shown to positively influence student success - particularly for students of color - yet only 2.6% of CSU Channel Islands faculty members self-identify as Black/African American; and

WHEREAS proportional representation alone does not address power hierarchies; and

WHEREAS fostering Black belonging and dismantling systemic marginalization at CI requires Black faculty representation that is greater than the representation in the local community; and

WHEREAS cost, coordination, and placement of faculty position advertising should not be the responsibility of individual departments or programs; and

WHEREAS equity work ought to be acknowledged as faculty service and rewarded through the RTP process; and

WHEREAS the development of an anti-racist institutional culture requires the assessment, development, and implementation of professional development initiatives and programming for staff, faculty, and administrators that support BIPOC student, faculty, and staff success; and

WHEREAS the Mission Centers uphold the values of multiculturalism, internationalism, interdisciplinarity, and community engagement in the generation of events and activities and in the creation of opportunities for faculty development, student learning, and co-curricular activities that promote civic action, the development of antiracist institutional practices, and social justice at CI and in the broader community; and

WHEREAS the work of building an institutional culture of inclusion, equity, and anti-racism is a continual process of direct action, reflection, discussion, and revision; therefore, this is a living document meant to help focus our continual iterative development of anti-racist practices.

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Academic Senate will take the following actions:
A. Structural changes
1. Create in AY 20-21 an Equity and Anti-Racist Standing Committee of the Senate (first proposed August, 2019) which will, among other charges, review policies and documents with the lens of equity, anti-racism, diversity and/or inclusion and prepare an annual
2. report on diversity, equity and inclusion to be presented to the Faculty Senate, with recommendations to remedy systemic and institutional racism. 2. Charge the Equity and Anti-Racist Standing Committee of the Senate with annually reviewing and re-committing to this Resolution, identifying timelines for changes where possible to foster accountability.
3. Advocate for a University-funded organizational audit of the university, unit by unit, by qualified outside professionals, to identify cultural taxation of BIPOC students, staff, and faculty.
4. Take actions toward and advocate for relieving cultural taxation of Black/African American students, staff, and faculty through:
a. acknowledging the extra service labor that faculty of color carry in advising students and implementing anti-racist institutional work with course releases, campus resources, and professional development opportunities to ensure we have senior faculty of color who are prepared to assume leadership positions in the future;
b. developing curriculum in each discipline that addresses current disciplinary events, power relationships, representations, and concepts in relation to race, racialization, and anti-racism to examine, address, and dismantle effects of racialization and disciplinary practices of exclusion on students, staff, and faculty (see section C below);
c. counting mentorship through university programs and informal mentorship done by Black/African American faculty as meeting service requirements for RTP (see section B below);
d. prioritizing temporary reassignment opportunities for Black staff and faculty to train for leadership positions, including Department/Program chairs. (see section B below);
e. recognizing that everyone, not just people of color, must engage in anti-racist work (see section C below);
f. encouraging all faculty to include an assessment of anti-racist pedagogical practices in Professional Development Plan goal-setting and RTP narratives self-assessment;
g. advocating that all faculty engage in intense and honest self-reflection, critical engagement, and broad reading about the present crisis and its relationship to the past, and how to become an anti-racist community;
h. providing opportunities for the advancement of more Black/African American representation among CI leadership and on committees University-wide (see section B below);
i. facilitating intentional mentoring of faculty of color by Departments/Programs, Faculty Affairs, and Faculty Development Advisory Committee as they become leaders in education and trailblazers in their fields (see section B below); and
j. promoting the research, scholarship, and creative activities of faculty of color as they become leaders in education and trailblazers in their fields.
5. Advocate for funding and providing regular access to evidence-based training for all elected Senate committee members on anti-racism, specifically anti-Black/African American issues.
6. Advocate for sufficient resources to provide all faculty on-going evidence-based training; rooting out structural racism will take structural and cultural change.
7. Advance as a best practice that all Department/Program Chairs take anti-racist training that specifically targets racism in hiring, retention, and review of faculty.
8. Urge requiring increased diversity of applicant pools, and other actions geared toward the removal of barriers historically known to inequitably limit hiring of Black/African American tenure-track faculty across disciplines (see section B below).
9. Advocate for requiring increased diversity of applicant pools, making recruitment and outreach efforts culturally responsive, and other actions geared toward the removal of barriers historically known to inequitably limit recruitment and retention of Black/African American students and staff (see section B below).
10. Endorse the development of and investment in pipeline programs and relationship building with local high schools to support a strong community of black CI students.
11. Support the development of pipeline investments and relationships with local colleges, universities, and community colleges to support deep viable tools for junior faculty, students, and staff of color.
12. Advocate for developing pipeline investments and relationships for Black staff in local communities.
13. Endorse evidence-based training for the campus community on anti-racism, specifically anti-Black/African American issues. This should include all members of the CI community, specifically for all those who are involved in student recruitment, counseling, public safety, the classification review process for staff, or are involved with receiving complaints or conducting investigations.
14. Urge all university divisions and units to examine, evaluate, and eliminate all institutional policies and practices that marginalize Black/African American students, staff, and faculty.
15. Partner with the Campus Police and Ventura County Sheriff’s Department to
a. ensure full investigation of current practices and complaints regarding incidences of police profiling and unjust practices against Black/African American students, staff, and faculty on campus and in the community;
b. require annual reporting to Senate and BFSA on CI community policing and impact on the Black/African American community;
c. provide regular bias and best practices training for law enforcement that has been approved by the BFSA and the Black Student Association on how to interact with persons of color on our campus; and
d. create a task force or other mechanism for tracking incidents of police misconduct.

B. Hiring and retaining faculty of color
1. In AY20-21 Faculty Affairs Senate Committee will collaborate with the Office of Faculty Affairs, Deans, Department/ Program Chairs, and Faculty Search Coordinating Committee on a CI Faculty Recruitment Handbook, which will incorporate diversity/anti-racist initiatives and directives, such as
a. requiring evidence-based anti-racist and equity training for all members of faculty hiring committees;
b. formalizing the process by which faculty members are chosen to disciplinary search committees so as to avoid disproportionately recruiting faculty of color to serve on such committees;
c. centralizing under the Faculty Affairs Office the cost, coordination, and placement of ads in diverse outlets; and
d. reviewing and approving mandatory diversity questions to be included in every screening interview.

2. Develop quantifiable metrics and goals related to hiring and retaining Black faculty. Charge the Senate Standing Committee on Equity and Anti-Racist Standing Committee with regularly (annually at a minimum) reviewing performance on these metrics and assessing progress toward the stated goals.
3. In AY 20-21 the Senate Faculty Affairs Senate Committee will incorporate diversity/anti-racist issues into its review of the University Retention, Tenure and Promotion Policy.
4. The Senate Faculty Development Advisory Committee will develop mentoring and programming in support of anti-racist RTP policies.
5. Advocate for the transformation of exclusionary hiring and retention practices to diversify the faculty ranks in all disciplines through the following practices:

a. instituting cluster hires, starting with AY20-21 open-rank searches for faculty with a demonstrated record of success in teaching, research, and/or service with anti-racism and Black/African American populations;
b. including in Department/Program governing documents such as Program Personnel Standards and By-laws capacity building in and assessment of anti-racist pedagogical practices;
c. developing the relationships necessary to cultivate, attract, hire, and retain Black faculty, including meetings with the CI Black community when Black candidates visit campus;
d. securing funding from the Administration for consultants to provide training for Program/Department chairs, evaluators of classroom teaching, and those reviewing RTP files on implicit/unconscious bias as well as overt/conscious bias, and how to recognize bias and contextualize it in evaluation documents, including SRTs;
e. socializing new faculty members into anti-racist values; and
f. advocating for funding to support opportunities for professional learning for all faculty and academic administrators on eradicating anti-Blackness and promoting racial justice, including workshops on unpacking whiteness, racism in education, racial battle fatigue, and equity-minded hiring.

C. Anti-racist curriculum, teaching, and learning opportunities
1. The Senate Academic Policies and Planning Committee will create formal expedited pathways for modifications and new courses and programs to be responsive to public diversity needs and calls to action.
2. Senate Local Curriculum Committees will review new course proposals in all disciplines through an equity lens using a structured processed guided by a written procedure.
3. In AY 20-21 the AB1460 Implementation Senate Task Force will identify courses and develop process for new courses to meet the competencies for the Ethnic Studies graduation requirement.
4. The Senate Faculty Development Advisory Committee will devote one or more Spring 2020 Faculty Inquiry Projects (FIPs) to enacting one or more of the recommended Anti-Racist Actions in this Senate Resolution.
5. The Senate Faculty Development Advisory Committee will promote the seeking of teaching evaluations/ observations for purposes of improvement, pedagogical problem-solving/improvement/ innovation, and career development (i.e. outside the formal review process, not for professional files) to support faculty working to develop their anti-racist teaching capacity.
6. Urge the expansion of funding to strengthen ethnic studies majors and minors at CI to further the study of the history, lives, and experiences of people of African descent at CI through
a. providing base funding to Africana Studies Minor, with a commitment to getting the minor up and running and hiring tenure-track faculty to develop a Major. This includes the hiring of staff to support the program and course releases for faculty running the program;
b. including Africana Studies in the AY20-21 tenure-track faculty cluster hire; and
c. allowing low-enrolled ethnic studies classes to run and reserve seats for Black/African American students in targeted courses (i.e., Pinkard Living-Learning Community).
7. Challenge departments/programs to reckon with manifestations of white supremacy and oppressive and racist assumptions, ideologies, and perspectives in all disciplines, during Program Review and other reflective or assessment moments such as departmental/program retreats, in order to re-center our curriculum on historically silenced and marginalized voices, disciplines, and ways of knowing in order to cease reinforcing default Eurocentrism, oppression, and white privilege;
8. Advocate for permanent funding to provide professional development for all faculty on the best evidence-based actively anti-racist teaching and learning practices, including bringing in consultants and compensating leads of faculty learning communities aimed at helping faculty to review their curriculum, individual courses, and syllabi, and to infuse allyship and anti-racism into their classrooms and course-releases or stipends for faculty to redesign courses.
9. Advocate for funding to provide socialization training at the department (program) level for new faculty to integrate into the culture of anti-racism.
10. Institutionalize the practice across disciplines of teaching evaluations/observations for purposes of improvement, pedagogical problem-solving/improvement/innovation, and career development (i.e. outside the formal review process, not for professional files) to support faculty working to develop their anti-racist teaching capacity.
11. Expand funding for Broome library’s holdings and strengthen its focus on the Black/African American histories, life, and culture.
12. Promote the institutionalization of visible celebrations of Black culture on campus, including developing event programming for Black History Month.
13. Support funding for programs to develop murals and other forms of public art.
14. Recognize and fund efforts of the Mission Centers to focus explicitly on methods to increase Black students’ access to opportunities such as multicultural engagement, service-learning, interdisciplinary courses, Study Abroad, and University 392, and to provide funding for faculty development opportunities explicitly to increase participation of Black faculty in mission-centered initiatives.