UCI vows better environment for African Americans after complaints
People walk through the University of California, Irvine campus past the Jack Langson Library.
UC Irvine is vowing to create a more positive environment for African American students.
UCI Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Thomas Parham last week outlined the recommendations that were submitted by a task force in June. He also shared what progress has been made, including development of an African American scholars hall and a Black Resource Center.
The university’s Chancellor Howard Gillman established the Task Force on Ensuring a Positive Climate for the Campus’ African American Community in January.
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The group was assembled after several UCI administrators received a letter from the campus’ Black Student Union that same month. The letter’s subject line read “Structural and Institutional Changes” and contained nine demands meant to address “structural deficiencies in institutional support for Black students” in the school.
The task force consisted of UCI professors from various disciplines, undergraduate and graduate students — which included two members from the Black Student Union — and other staff members in the school’s academic planning, counseling services and student housing departments.
The group was responsible for examining UC Irvine’s practices as they related to the climate for the school’s African American population.
Among the recommendations, those that have already been implemented include an African American scholars and excellence hall in the Arroyo Vista student housing community.
A Black Resource Center was also approved, according to the statement. Several sites are being considered for the center’s location and a director will soon be recruited.
An effort to add studies that “demonstrate skills to recognize, critically analyze and question structural systems of oppression” is also underway.
Parham was asked to assemble a group to oversee the implementation of the recommendations, the statement said.
Vice Provost for Academic Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Douglas Haynes is the task force’s current chair.
“Gillman intended the Task Force to have an ongoing function with a dynamic membership,” Parham said in the statement. “We recognize that there is more work to do, and we will remain vigilant in cultivating a welcoming, positive culture.”
Earlier this year, the Irvine Police Department examined report of a racially charged flier left in an elevator of Toscana Apartments, a residential complex near the UC Irvine campus.
The flier addresses noise levels within the complex and includes a paragraph in bold text that reads, “We also would like to remind our African American residents to keep conversation volume down and reduce music levels between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Multiple complaints have been made regarding this issue.”
Chan writes for Times Community News
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