Antiracism at DU
Impact Area: Launch university-wide programming to explore a more equitable future
View the DEI Action Plan for 2020-2021
Facilitate substantive discussions throughout the year on exploring the term antiracism.
Action Item Details
We acknowledge that racism has been at DU since its founding and has been amplified in recent years by racist incidents. In addition, longtime actions have reinforced policies and practices that have fallen disparately on racially minoritized groups. This action item will facilitate substantive discussions throughout the year on exploring the term antiracism.
Key questions that will be addressed are:
- What is antiracism?
- Where has antiracism been practiced at DU/in your area? In what ways has DU/your area fallen short of or engaged in antiracism?
- What are antiracism’s implications in the context of DU’s past, present, and future?
These conversations would revolve around specific outcomes to make recommendations to the DEI Steering Committee and inform new strategic priorities at the university as well as unit-level strategic planning and programming.
Updates
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Action Book Club Launches with How to be an Antiracist
In collaboration with the College of Education Student Association (COESA), Dean Karen Riley of the Morgridge College of Education (MCE) has committed to providing all incoming and current MCE Students with an eBook of How to Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, to foster reflection, dialogue, and antiracist action. MCE Faculty and Staff started reading the book this summer. This Fall (2020), we will all participate in a cross-college, Action Book Club (ABC) throughout the Morgridge College of Education, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, and the Graduate School of Social Work.
The purpose of this ABC is to bring systemic issues surrounding power, privilege, and oppression to the forefront and to invite interdisciplinary community-building to address current issues.
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DU Advancement Hosts Racial Justice & Allyship at DU - A Roundtable Discussion
You can access the recording of the event.
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ODEI Announces Funding for Programming and Learning about Antiracism
October 14, 2020
The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) alongside Human Resources and Inclusive Communities and Student Affairs and Inclusive Excellence has launched the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Action Plan that will guide our work during the 2020-2021 academic year. One of our action items is to facilitate substantive discussions throughout the year on exploring the term antiracism and its implications for DU. These conversations will revolve around specific outcomes to make recommendations to the DEI Steering Committee and inform new strategic priorities at the university as well as unit-level strategic planning and programming.
We are soliciting proposals up to $5,000 from University of Denver students, staff, and faculty representing departments, offices, units, and campus organizations to support programming and/or learning opportunities to explore antiracism.
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Successful Virtual 20th Annual Diversity Summit
Between January and March 2020, over the course of seven weeks, DU explored and examined antiracism through our annual Diversity Summit. The Summit hosted 34 virtual events, including four additional DU community events with 105 speakers and 1,555 attendees. If you missed any part of the Summit, you can catch up at the Diversity Summit’s YouTube playlist.
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ODEI Antiracism Funding Update
ODEI funded three proposals through its antiracism initiative:
- Antiracism in legal education
- Antiracism in clinical psychology curricula
- Antiracism and its impact on CAHSS’ promotion and tenure decisions
ODEI will continue to accept proposals through the end of May, with special considerations to those that address anti-Asian and anti-immigrant racism, violence against Native American and Indigenous women and those that will commemorate or reflect on Juneteenth. Learn more and apply here.
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Action Book Club Update
Students in the Morgridge College of Education, Korbel School of International Studies, and the Graduate School of Social Work launched a campus wide-series of reading groups and related curriculum in Fall of 2020. Known as the Action Book Club (ABC), sustained conversations over the meaning and application of antiracist practices occurred all over campus. Currently, ABC curriculum co-chairs and ELPS cohort classmates, Katie Golieb and Klaudia Neufeld (with the support and guidance of MCE faculty) developed a qualitative study to inform the development of the next ABC program (expected in Fall 2021) and to prepare a conference proposal for submission to the UCEA Graduate Student Summit later this year.
The ABC team has asked that we communicate gratitude for all ABC survey participants who nominated antiracist scholars, books and resources and welcome student, faculty and staff leaders to join their efforts as they continue leading the curriculum development and evaluation planning of the student-led, anti-racist program. They are looking forward to sharing their study’s results by the end of April 2021.