Dear CLAS Faculty and Staff Colleagues:

I'm writing to follow up on Provost Fuentes's email below.

Please consider CLAS closed for business as usual on Wednesday, June 10. All classes will be canceled.

To the extent possible—without abandoning critical functions—please join me in using your work day to learn more about the impacts and manifestations of racism on higher education generally and the UI/CLAS in particular.

How does racism/bias/discrimination play out in your discipline? In your department? In your own work? And what can you do about it?

This web page has an outstanding collection of resources, tailored to your interests, with which you can explore these questions: https://www.shutdownstem.com/resources.

In addition, the Twitter hashtags #BlackAndSTEM, #ShutDownAcademia, #ShutDownStem, and #Strike4BlackLives, and the Twitter accounts @BlackandSTEM and @citeblackwomen are ongoing conversations about the struggles that our Black faculty, staff, and students face.

CLAS supervisors: Please instruct your reports to engage with the #ShutDownAcademia movement on Wednesday, June 10, instead of performing their normal duties. You may make exceptions for employees performing functions critical to the operation of your unit. All classes are canceled on June 10.

Thank you.

Steve Goddard, Dean
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Message from Provost Fuentes (June 9)

Dear Campus Community:

#ShutDownAcademia/#ShutDownSTEM/#Strike4BlackLives is a movement that is asking all members of the global academic community to stop doing “business as usual” on Wednesday, June 10, 2020, and to dedicate the day to educating ourselves about racism—especially in higher education—and to make a commitment to action and healing.  I want to encourage each of you to participate.

As an institution of higher education, we must be part of this conversation.  In order to move toward the future we envision for ourselves, we must continually seek greater understanding of the ways in which racism, bias, and privilege are embedded into the academic experience.  And we must be leaders of change. 

Most important, members of our community are in pain.  We have an opportunity and an obligation to understand better how our actions and beliefs have contributed to that pain, and to take action to support one another.  For those who are hurting, this initiative encourages you to create space to focus on your needs, and to learn about resources to support your well-being.

I hope tomorrow we can dedicate ourselves as a community to focus on education, action, and healing.

To learn more about this initiative and how you can participate, please visit: https://www.shutdownstem.com/.

Montse Fuentes
Executive Vice President and Provost