[Uosenate] UO Senate Meeting, Wed. June 10th 3-5 pm -- announcement

Tue Jun 9 13:57:59 PDT 2020

Hello Michael, Michelle, and fellow senators,

Please accept my apology for the removal of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies from the resolution. I understand that its omission from the resolution feels like yet another case of devaluation and erasure from our institutional priorities. Of course, that was not the intention. Our rationale for taking out mention of specific programs was twofold. First, we did not feel comfortable calling on a program to take on still more burden without fully consulting the faculty in that program. The rapid evolution of this resolution has precluded us from doing that. We received this feedback from one faculty member who we reached out to for input, "I feel like we’re being asked to sign off on behalf of our communities, programs, and departments without any time to consult with them. For example, while I appreciate the sentiment of support for more hires in IRES, I don’t recall being asked by the senate about how to make IRES classes a requirement or what would work best for us."

Second, while acknowledging the tremendous amount of work that the IRES faculty have done for scholarship and teaching around these issues, including that program only seemed to us to be disrespectful to all the other programs and departments that also do relevant work and teaching. We specifically discussed this issue and vacillated between naming ALL such programs on campus or referring to them collectively while not naming each one individually. We decided on the latter, and this language from the resolution is certainly intended to include not only IRES but all programs and departments that work and teach in these areas: "Identifying and promoting existing scholarship and curricula, such as the Black Studies minor, that illuminate and mitigate structural racism and oppression and their effects on society…"

Michael, you also note that we do name exactly one academic program - the new Black Studies minor that the Senate will vote to approve as part of the curriculum report at the meeting tomorrow. At this particular moment in time, it felt appropriate to us to name the one program we are creating on campus that focuses on the experiences and lives of Black Americans. Additionally, it is notable that the creation of the Black Studies minor stemmed from the 2015 Black Students Task Force demands, which added further weight toward including Black studies in the resolution as a way of highlighting the senate’s action on that list tomorrow.

We will bring this resolution to the floor tomorrow and, in the mean time, continue to welcome suggestions for how it can be improved. We will begin our discussion with the motion as it currently stands on the senate website, here <https://senate.uoregon.edu/2020/06/05/us19-20-18-resolution-against-racism-and-systemic-oppression/>. Should someone bring a motion to amend the resolution to name specific other programs or to make other specific changes (and we have already received suggested edits to other sections of the proposal), we will of course discuss and vote on those.

I want to close by thanking everyone - senators and others - for voicing your input on this motion. Working on this resolution is not an easy first step, and indeed none of the steps we as an institution will be taking across the coming years will be easy if we do them right. But Elizabeth and I very much appreciate the spirit of collective action that everyone is bringing to this. In the end, we are working toward the same broad goal and everyone we’ve connected with has been eager to do the hard work and do it as well as we can.

-Ell

> On Jun 9, 2020, at 1:06 PM, Anne 'Michelle' Wood <miche at uoregon.edu> wrote:
> 
> HI Michael - Thank you for this insight; you raise troubling issues.  My desire is to get something going, and a motion requires debate, but perhaps this is something we should take more time with.  Tomorrow is STEM-boycott; I wish we were making more of an effort to postpone business to another day and to get a document with more wholehearted support.  
> Thanks
> Michelle
> From: Michael Hames-Garcia <mhamesg at uoregon.edu <mailto:mhamesg at uoregon.edu>>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 9, 2020 1:02 PM
> To: Anne 'Michelle' Wood <miche at uoregon.edu <mailto:miche at uoregon.edu>>; Elizabeth Skowron <eskowron at uoregon.edu <mailto:eskowron at uoregon.edu>>; 'uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu <mailto:uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu>' <uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu <mailto:uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu>>
> Subject: Re: [Uosenate] UO Senate Meeting, Wed. June 10th 3-5 pm -- announcement
>  
> Hi Elizabeth and all,
>  
> I want to thank Edward and others for bringing up some of the shortcomings of the resolution. Personally, since I had given input on different parts of the proposal at two different stages, I found myself disappointed with the final product.
>  
> Among my disappointments was the removal of any mention of IRES in the resolution. The IRES Department and its earlier incarnations have been a force for studying and teaching about race, ethnicity, indigeneity, and white supremacy since 1972. It began as a certificate program housed in the English Department. It became an independent program in the social sciences in the 1990s. It became a department a decade ago and now has a PhD program approved to begin admitting students this coming year.
>  
> As a hub for research and teaching on these issues, its faculty have been massively overtaxed. At the same time, we have acted as a support network for faculty of color across campus (not only in CAS). Our faculty have participated in searches for administrators and for faculty in a number of departments, but have met with candidates during their visits in vastly more cases. (I, personally, have been on search committees in Education Studies, English, Cinema Studies, and Political Science, as well as searches for the CAS Dean, the University President, and the Chief Civil Rights Officer). Every one of the President’s Ad Hoc Committees set up after the Black Student Protests in 2013 had an Ethnic Studies professor on it. Similarly, Ethnic Studies faculty provided expertise serving on committees for the Black Studies Cluster Hires, took time to meet with candidates during their visits, and organized a welcome picnic when they arrived. This last was one of many informal social events and formal receptions that the Department has organized in an effort to retain faculty of color at the University of Oregon going back to the 1990s. When then-Vice Provost Russ Tomlin was going to eliminate an African Americanist history line in the History Department some time back, it was the Ethnic Studies faculty who met with Russ en masse to successfully advocate for the position. When history professor Peggy Pascoe passed away, it was Ethnic Studies that organized an annual event in her memory. At least three members of our department were involved centrally at one time or another in the change of the University’s multicultural requirement to the new Difference, Identity, and Agency requirement.
>  
> I could go on, but I am sure you get the point. Without the labor and expertise of IRES faculty over the past two decades, the University of Oregon would be far worse off on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are by definition the location on campus where “scholarship and curricula . . . that illuminate and mitigate structural racism and oppression and their effects on society” is located. We currently have three black-identified tenure-track faculty members (two of whom are tenured) in a department of eleven faculty. Even where work on race and racism is done far from the Social Sciences Division, we have structural links that support those faculty. Our graduate faculty draws from PPPM, Education, WGSS, Sociology, History, English, Cinema Studies, Anthropology, SOJC, Political Science, Romance Languages, and Theater Arts.
>  
> To make IRES invisible at this time (while singling out the Black Studies Minor, which doesn’t technically exist yet) repeats the mistakes that senior administrators made (and have since personally apologized for) a few years ago in attempting to build a Black Studies Program apart from IRES. Without IRES courses, there couldn’t be a Black Studies Minor.
>  
> This invisibility also repeats an ongoing pattern of misrecognition, disappearance, and marginalization of our department that extends back at least to the Deanship of Wendy Larson, who infamously told us that Ethnic Studies could not become a department because we are not a “discipline.” After a student campaign and our own lobbying of Russ Tomlin and then-Provost Linda Brady, a committee was formed to evaluate our suitability to be a department. In order to provide cover so that it did not appear that Dean Larson had “caved” to our demands, both Women’s and Gender Studies and International Studies were also taken up and departmentalize. Neither of those units had asked to departmentalize much less campaigned extensively for years to achieve the status.
>  
> Ten years ago, we were moved to “temporary space” in Esslinger Hall because we had outgrown the space we were borrowing from History in McKenzie Hall. Within two years of moving to Esslinger, we were moved off campus to the Alder Building (which no student can find). Thus, at the same that the University was extracting huge quantities of surplus labor from our faculty and staff, we were literally shoved off campus. We have now outgrown the space in Alder and there is no move into an on-campus space in sight (despite construction cranes everywhere).
>  
> There is only so much disrespect faculty of color can take. Our faculty have won major national awards for their scholarship. We have faculty in our small department who have won both the Ersted Award and the Herman Award for Distinguished Teaching. I think that a majority of our faculty have won Martin Luther Kind Awards. We have won these honors despite the overwhelming service the University has demanded of us. Perhaps most shocking of all, in the 15 years that I have been at the University of Oregon only four faculty of color have left the department (one to UC Irvine, one to UC Berkeley, one to the University of Hawaii, and one to Yale University). At the same time, we recruited Guggenheim Fellow Laura Pulido from USC and have never been turned down by our top choice candidate in a job search. We have managed to create a functional academic department that is the definition of excellence in every way and is a magnate for faculty of color researching race and racism. Meanwhile, everywhere else on campus, white faculty blame the lack of diversity in Eugene for their inability to recruit and retain faculty of color.
>  
> We have accomplished all of this despite an unrelenting lack of respect for our scholarship, teaching, and service at this University. It is constantly assumed that what we do can be replicated as an added week or two in some other class. I cannot think of another discipline that is so often trivialized.
>  
> I cannot support a Senate resolution that continues to devalue and marginalize the work that I do and the Department that I helped build.
>  
> Respectfully,
>  
> Michael
>  
>  
> --
> Dr. Michael Hames-García
> (pronouns: he–him or they–them)
> Professor of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies at the University of Oregon
> Vice President for Equity & Diversity of the United Academics of the University of Oregon (UAUO) (our faculty union)
> Vice President of the Oregon chapter of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT-OR)
> https://michaelhamesgarcia.com/ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://michaelhamesgarcia.com/__;!!C5qS4YX3!X_yUJIkbCtxbiowkNXd0WnnMy0NfsRL-wDgtPeI3KwkQ84CYNfwYB4f5k9D_awcBGA$>
>  
> DREAMER ALLY: I support all students regardless of status or identity.
>  
> DISCLAIMER: This account is maintained for professional communications. Unless otherwise indicated, the content and opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of nor are they endorsed by the University of Oregon or the Oregon University System.
>  
>  
> From: <uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu <mailto:uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu>> on behalf of Anne 'Michelle' Wood <miche at uoregon.edu <mailto:miche at uoregon.edu>>
> Date: Tuesday, June 9, 2020 at 7:11 AM
> To: Elizabeth Skowron <eskowron at uoregon.edu <mailto:eskowron at uoregon.edu>>, "'uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu <mailto:uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu>'" <uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu <mailto:uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu>>
> Subject: Re: [Uosenate] UO Senate Meeting, Wed. June 10th 3-5 pm -- announcement
>  
> HI Elizabeth, I am happy to co-sponsor the bill. It may need tweaking, but there are going to be quite a few steps on this journey and this gets us going.   Thanks
> Anne "Michelle" Wood
>  
> From: uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu <mailto:uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu> <uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu <mailto:uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu>> on behalf of Jay Butler <jbutler7 at uoregon.edu <mailto:jbutler7 at uoregon.edu>>
> Sent: Monday, June 8, 2020 4:05 PM
> To: Elizabeth Skowron <eskowron at uoregon.edu <mailto:eskowron at uoregon.edu>>; 'uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu <mailto:uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu>' <uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu <mailto:uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu>>
> Subject: Re: [Uosenate] UO Senate Meeting, Wed. June 10th 3-5 pm -- announcement
>  
> Thanks for the update, Elizabeth. The article/quote you included is quite on point. As I emailed you last week to add my name as a co-sponsor to the proposed resolution, and then today, contemplating skipping the meeting in solidarity with #shutdownacademia, your email helped me see the true reason of what our collective mission is. I will most definitely be attending Wednesday’s senate meeting.
> Thank you,
>  
> Jay Butler
> Business Affairs Office, Payroll
> UO Senate, Classified Senator
> UO Senate, Senate Executive Committee
> Environmental Issues Committee
> VPFA Diversity Committee
> University of Oregon
> jbutler7 at uoregon.edu <mailto:jbutler7 at uoregon.edu>
> T | 541.346.1126
> F | 541.346.1109
> Pronouns: he/him/his
>  
> P    Please consider the environment before printing this email.
>  
> From: uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu <mailto:uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu> <uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu <mailto:uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu>> On Behalf Of Elizabeth Skowron
> Sent: Monday, June 8, 2020 3:46 PM
> To: 'uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu <mailto:uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu>' <uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu <mailto:uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu>>
> Subject: [Uosenate] UO Senate Meeting, Wed. June 10th 3-5 pm -- announcement
>  
> Dear Colleagues in the University Senate,
>  
> Please find a copy of the June 10th Senate Meeting below.  I want to share that I’d given some thought to cancelling the meeting in light of the requests circulating to #shutdownacademia on Wed for the day, https://www.shutdownstem.com/ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.shutdownstem.com/__;!!C5qS4YX3!Vla1JQotz5fhMG-FtvSi3LCksJitRVqp3oZaRBRtNCbR9JNS2yztYRzI2Erq88dN$>.  We have heard from a few senators who have emailed to share that they may not attend the senate meeting in support of this call. These are important collective actions and each needs to do what they believe are the best actions for themselves.  
>  
> I have decided as senate president to proceed with a modified senate meeting on Wed.  I believe that each of the items retained on the agenda are—more or less so—in keeping with efforts to take action against racism and systemic oppression.
>  
> ·         we will be considering and voting on the attached resolution, which we have prepared at the behest of a student advocacy group, and in consulting with many individuals on campus
> ·         we will be honoring several colleagues who have been nominated and selected for awards for excellence in shared governance and other leadership and service contributions to the UO, including several colleagues of color
> ·         we will voting on a new senate VP, and be accepting a number of courses and program mods necessary for such mods and courses to be offered in the coming fall term, including new courses on UO Difference, Race, and Inequality and
> o   Approval of an undergraduate minor in Black Studies. Effective Fall 2020
> o   Changing the name of the Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnic Studies and a Master of Arts in Ethnic Studies to a Doctor of Philosophy in Indigenous, Race and Ethnic Studies and a Master of Arts in Indigenous, Race and Ethnic Studies (effective Fall 2021)
>  
> Last week I seriously contemplated whether or not to proceed with the senate meeting.  I came across this article in the NYT which I found helpful: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/opinion/whites-anti-blackness-protests.html <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/opinion/whites-anti-blackness-protests.html__;!!C5qS4YX3!X_5uigh8C44wDQNWT5LbT9IeQwapKZViYAU0dQTh-UYJHyiWixD2PQ00R6d0PWAbdHs$>. 
>  
> My book is coming out in a few months, and I don’t know if I’m going to be alive to see it, because I’m a black man.
>  
> On Monday evening my agent, a liberal white woman in her 30s, sent an email informing me that she was postponing our important meeting with my editor the next day. The agency representing my book was observing a Blackout Day “to honor George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and the countless other black men and women who have been unjustifiably brutalized and killed.”
>  
> The company planned to “take this time to reflect and think about long-term actions we can take both as individuals and as an organization to address the systemic racism that persists in our business and communities,” she added.
>  
> To paraphrase, my agent was pushing back a meeting necessary for the completion and timely release of my book — which is about how black people can apply the lessons we derive from traumatic experiences to our careers — so that white people could reflect on how to help black people. I countered, insisting that our meeting take place as scheduled because black people’s lives are in danger, and I shouldn’t have to sacrifice momentum on a book written for black people because white people are performing empathy.
>  
> This helped me personally to make the decision to hold this week’s meeting.  I hope that many of you are able to join as well. I’m available to talk further if you wish…feel free to reach out via email or phone.
>  
> Thank you,
>  
> Elizabeth
>  
>  
> Senate Meeting Agenda – June 10, 2020
> 
> Location: Zoom (Please find link below the agenda)
> 3:00 – 5:00 P.M.
> 3:00 P.M.  Call to Order
> Introductory Remarks; Senate President Elizabeth Skowron
> Remarks; Senate Vice President & President-Elect Elliot Berkman
> 3:10 P.M. Approval of the Minutes
> May 13, 2020
> 3:15 P.M. State of the University
> President Michael Schill
> 3:30 P.M. New Business
> US19/20-18: Resolution Against Racism and Systemic Oppression
> Election: Senate VP & President-Elect for 2020-2021
> Spring 2020 Curriculum Report; Frances White, Chair of UOCC
> US19/20-16: Resolution to Adopt an Open Access Scholarship Policy <https://senate.uoregon.edu/2020/05/13/us19-20-16-resolution-to-adopt-an-open-access-scholarship-policy/>; David Condon (Psychology), Margaret Sereno (Psychology) (deferred to Fall, 2020)
> 4:10 P.M. Awards
> Shared Governance Award: Sierra Dawson, Jennifer Espinola, Chris Esparza; Intro by Elizabeth Skowron & Jessica Cronce
> Classified Staff Award: Cimmeron Gillespie, Intro by Steve Mital and Robyn Hathcock; and Char Fentress, Intro by Allie Heaman
> Wayne Westling Award: Kassia Dellabough, College of Design; Intro by Kristin Grieger
> OA Award: Herlinda (Linda) Leon; Intro by Amalia Gladhart
> 4:58 P.M. Open Discussion
> 4:59 P.M. Other Business
> 5:00 P.M. Adjourn
> Topic: University Senate – June Mtg
> Time: Jun 10, 2020 03:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
> Join Zoom Meeting
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> Meeting ID: 303 086 146
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>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
> Elizabeth A. Skowron, Ph.D.
> Professor, Department of Psychology
> Center for Translational Neuroscience
> UO Senate President
> University of Oregon
> Eugene, OR 97403
> http://ctn.uoregon.edu/ <http://ctn.uoregon.edu/>
> Tel. 541-346-9329
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