[Geoldept] FW: Statement from the CSE Equity, Inclusion & Diversity Committee in Support of Faculty Senate Resolution on Radicalized Language

[Kate Blizzard]

Dear Students & Colleagues,

The Equity, Inclusion & Diversity committee for the College of Science and Engineering has written a statement to express support for the resolution on racialized language that was approved Monday by the Faculty Senate.

We believe this is an important first step, but only a first step, in the ongoing process of aligning our college, university, and personal actions with our shared goal of inclusive excellence.

The full statement is attached as a PDF, with the text copied below for ease of reading.

 We highlight our gratitude to the students who have worked to educate the campus community about this issue, and the students and faculty who have worked to advance the discourse on this issue in our shared governance bodies.

Best,
Kevin Covey, on behalf of the full CSE EID committee


' "N-----" is the border, the signpost that reminds us that the old crimes don't disappear. It tells white
people that, for all their guns and all their gold, there will always be places they can never go.'
-- Ta-Nehisi Coates, 'In Defense of a Loaded Word', NYTimes, 11/23/13

The Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Committee for the College of Science and Engineering
works to improve the climate within our classrooms, departments, and programs. As part of this
work, we seek to better understand and address racial disparities that persist in our society and
campus, and improve the experience and outcomes of community members from historically
marginalized groups. It is from this perspective that the CSE EID committee supports the recent
decision by Faculty Senate to pass a motion condemning the use of the N-word in the classroom.
We acknowledge the profoundly negative impact that racialized language, and the 'n-word' in
particular, can have on individual students and our broader classroom climate. Our recent
campus debate centers on the verbal use of the 'n-word' by an instructor in a classroom setting,
the damaging effects on the classroom climate and student learning, and the only modest
administrative response to multiple complaints. Despite these damaging effects, Western's
predominantly white faculty, who are typically less comfortable and practiced in discussions of
race, have in this instance reoriented the discussion to center on rights and legal liabilities
associated with freedom of speech. This is a distraction: instructors can legally say many things
that create an unwelcoming classroom and undermine the mission of the university -- inclusive
excellence.

As instructors and staff who strive every day to support student success, we call on instructors,
departments, colleges, and the university to take sorely needed steps to make classrooms more
welcoming. We strongly encourage instructors to take the responsibility to educate themselves
regarding the impact that the 'n-word' and other racialized language can have. Additionally, we
acknowledge the importance and necessity of incorporating cultural and historical materials that
include the 'n-word' into curriculum, but condemn the verbal usage of the word by instructors
themselves. The University should support this effort by developing trainings for courses where
such language is directly relevant to the course material and by outlining best practices such as
content warnings and guidelines for class discussions about materials that incorporate such
language.

When faculty fail or refuse to take these reasonable and prudent steps to preserve a welcoming
classroom climate, we need the department, college, and university to take action. Inaction by
the faculty and administration implicitly condones actions that create an environment that
undermines learning. This harms the climate in all our classrooms, as students will reasonably
conclude that they must maintain their vigilance against potential harm in each classroom they
enter. Our university must advocate for better solutions that will build trust with students, and
develop better methods for investigating and responding to student complaints about hostile
classroom climates. The committee also recognizes that these issues extend to other protected
and privileged categories, and the solutions developed should be responsive in those cases as
well.

Finally, faculty cannot continue to protect their academic freedom at the expense of the safety &
well-being of our students. During this debate, faculty governance bodies have resisted open
discourse, sidelined motions to express the sentiment of the body, undermined student
participation in shared governance, and caused student journalists and some faculty and students
of color to feel pressured and silenced when discussing issues of race and racism. Responses like
these are part of the problem that has created the issues that have outraged many students this
year. Those of us who are faculty must challenge ourselves and our colleagues to better navigate
these challenging conversations, and hold ourselves accountable when we fail, so that Western
may achieve the inclusive excellence to which we aspire.
We thank the student journalists who have worked to educate the campus community about these
issues, and students and faculty (including Dr. Kristen Larsen) who serve on, or have elevated
the discourse in, shared governance bodies as they sought to strengthen Western's policies and
administrative responses in cases like these.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On behalf of Kevin Covey & the CSE EID Committee,

Laquita Garbarino
Administrative Assistant to the Dean

WWU College of Science & Engineering
T: 360-650-6400 | E: Laquita.Garbarino at wwu.edu<mailto:Laquita.Garbarino at wwu.edu>
516 High Street, MS 9126, Bellingham, WA 98225
www.cse.wwu.edu<http://www.cse.wwu.edu>
[cid:0a778fde-717a-4007-b7be-cd1b10a569bc]

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