CoSE Antiracism Community

Announcing a CoSE Task Force for Anti-Racism

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Dear students, faculty and staff of the College of Science & Engineering (CoSE),

As leaders of the college, we wish to acknowledge how racism, and anti-Black racism in particular, inflicts tremendous and unfair burdens on our Black students, faculty and staff. CoSE stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and is committed to accountability as we work to achieve our vision for institutionalizing anti-racism in the college.

The first step of that process will be to establish a CoSE Task Force for Anti-Racism this summer. The task force will be charged with establishing short-, medium-, and long-term goals with accountability benchmarks that ensure that CoSE steadfastly and successfully pursues its mission to create an anti-racist culture and build an inclusive community throughout the college.

We will consult broadly to achieve diverse and equitable representation on the task force with multiple axes of diversity including race, gender, sexuality, disability, career stage, and role (tenured and tenure-track faculty, lecturer faculty, staff and students). This task force will publish its agendas, action items and reports quarterly on the CoSE website and will present its final report and recommendations at the Fall 2021 CoSE all-college meeting. The college leadership is committed to taking action on the recommendations of the task force by implementing anti-racist policies and fostering an anti-racist culture in the college.

It is essential for us to commit to investing time and resources to advance substantive change as we cannot support the success of all our students and train them to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges without addressing racial injustice, especially the racist structures that frame our work within CoSE. The scientific, psychological and pedagogical expertise of the college is diminished when the non-Black individuals among us fail to recognize and reject our own complicity in individual, cultural and institutional racism.

Despite past and present efforts by groups and individuals to create a more just inclusive environment in the college, it is clear we still have much more work to do. The non-Black leaders among us have not taken the needed proactive steps to address racism.

As we develop our action agenda for the Task Force for Anti-Racism, we call on non-Black and in particular white CoSE faculty, staff and students in all departments to self-reflect and educate ourselves on the ways in which we uphold the realities of historic and structural racism in our personal and professional lives, in our communities and in the institutions like CoSE in which we have agency. We encourage all educators and staff in the college to engage with this compilation of anti-racism resources and challenge each of us to consider how we can embed anti-racist practices in our teaching, our research and our administrative practices and policies.

We welcome the participation and ideas of the entire CoSE community, as these words are only made meaningful by the sustained actions by each of us that follow. To reflect the ongoing commitment and transparency this work will require, we as CoSE leadership commit to reporting on our actions and progress at the start of each academic year, and to each year reaffirm and renew the commitment of the Science Council, including all new members, to our social justice and anti-racism goals.

Signed,

Carmen Domingo, Dean

Uschi Simonis, Associate Dean for Research & Faculty Development

Ron Marzke, Associate Dean for Academic Programs & Learning

Laura Burrus, Chair of Biology

Teaster Baird Jr., Chair of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Arno Puder, Chair of Computer Science

Petra Dekens, Chair of Earth & Climate Sciences

Kwok Siong-Teh, Director School of Engineering

Andrew Oliphant, Chair of Geography & Environment

Eric Hsu, Chair of Mathematics

Joe Barranco, Chair of Physics & Astronomy

Chris Wright, Chair of Psychology

Karina Nielsen, Executive Director of Estuary & Ocean Science Center

Megumi Fuse, Director of Student Enrichment Opportunities

Larry Horvath, Director Center for Science & Math Education

The Context of the CoSE Task Force for Antiracism

While scientific organizations, professional societies, and alliances issued statements of support to eradicate racism in the aftermath of the highly publicized murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Dion Johnson, Ahmaud Arbery, and the racially motivated ten murders of African Americans in Buffalo, New York, it is not enough to simply proclaim commitments to change or to act only when socially expedient to do so.

The field of science, and specifically the work and engagements of the faculty, staff, and students of CoSE, should not be inextricably tied to commodification, colonialism, and its complicity in institutional racism. To achieve this change and to move beyond mere statements, systems that continue to oppress communities of color must be exposed, interrogated, and changed. The discourse around “diversity, equity and inclusion” in STEM must be viewed as a reclamation project for all oppressed groups, especially for CoSE.

The reclamation of racial justice is arguably the most important educational imperative during this time of turmoil (Brown, 2019). To achieve these goals, CoSE must support work that is equally focused on eradicating systemic racism and advancing racial equity within the mechanisms of how instruction is delivered, how programs are designed, and how resources are allocated, while maintaining a clear vision of the context in which it is being offered to students, faculty, and staff. CoSE must acknowledge and commit to addressing the long-term effects of racism, especially anti-Black racism, that inflicts tremendous and unfair burdens on faculty, staff, and students of color, especially students of African Ancestry. CoSE stands in solidarity with all others striving toward racial equity, actively committed to achieving the vision for enacting anti-racist policies and practices in the college.

Mission and Vision

The foundation for building an inclusive antiracist community is an articulated scaffolding of several key elements for success:

Naming Racist Structures: Taking proactive steps to identify and name existing structures that frame institutional racism. This foundational step is essential in understanding the harms imposed by these structures.

Building Alternative Structures to Eradicate Racism: Addressing racial injustice begins with dismantling the structures that perpetuate institutional racism. CoSE is committed to deconstructing racist structures (re) constructing alternative structures explicitly designed to eradicate racism and promote inclusivity.

Promoting Educational Opportunities for Self-Reflection: Providing educational opportunities and incentives for faculty, staff, and students to engage in a self-reflection process to address racism. This key element for success encourages individuals to examine and understand the realities of historic and structural racism in their personal and professional lives, communities, and within the institution.

Encouraging an Understanding of Historic and Structural Racism: Encouraging self-reflection and education for members of the CoSE community to foster an understanding and acceptance about the realities of historic and structural racism. This awareness is pivotal for creating a foundation upon which to build an anti-racist culture.

Recognizing Agency for Systemic Change: Urging members of CoSE to recognize their agency in changing problematic racist systems and structure. By facilitating active engagement in the work towards dismantling institutional racism, CoSE aims to cultivate a community united in creating an antiracism culture.

In conclusion, CoSE’s mission and vision involve a systematic and comprehensive strategy to deconstruct and replace racist structures. The commitment to fostering an anti-racist culture is underscored by proactive measures, educational initiatives, and a collective recognition of agency within the CoSE community to effect meaningful change.

CoSE Strategic Action Plan

The commitment to fostering a climate of care, inclusiveness, respect, and acceptance reflects a dedication to creating an environment that not only acknowledges the multiculturalism within the community but actively works towards eliminating systemic racism. The Strategic Action Plan serves as a roadmap, providing a structured approach to achieving these goals.

The flexibility embedded in the "living" document underscores CoSE’s responsiveness to the continuous changing landscape and challenges. This adaptability allows for the continuous refinement of goals, objectives and actions to address the current needs of the institution, ensuring that efforts remain relevant and effective in eradicating systemic racism.

In essence, the Strategic Action Plan is a dynamic tool that evolves with the institution’s changes journey toward creating a more inclusive and antiracist community. It reflects a commitment to ongoing assessment, implementation, evaluation, modification, and success at reinforcing CoSE’s dedication and commitment to its mission and vision in a meaningful and impactful manner.

The goals of the Strategic Action Plan

The completion of the Strategic Action Plan in August 2022 by the Task Force, the Science Council and leadership, and the All-College meeting of faculty is a significant milestone for CoSE in its pursuit to building an antiracist community. The comprehensive plan encompasses goals, specific objectives, measurements (benchmarks), actions, responsibilities, and time frames. The Full Plan is located in CoSE Strategic Action Plan and antiracism resources section. The goals are as follows:

Create an Antiracism Committee (ARC) charged with advancing the strategic plan
Create an Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) position within CoSE
Create an ongoing assessment of racial climate for students, faculty, and staff within CoSE
Transform the CoSE environment to a multicultural student community.
Transform the CoSE environment to a multicultural faculty and staff community.
Create policies for addressing antiracism and promoting racial equity within CoSE
Develop practices for promoting racial equity within CoSE and the Community.
Create a partnership between CoSE and the College of Ethnic Studies (COETHS) to advance Social Justice.

Email Dean Diane Harris for a copy of the Strategic Action Plan, dharris@sfsu.edu

2023-2024 AY Executive Summary

Implementing the Strategic Plan

Five priorities to reduce doing nothing and activating the Strategic Plan

To reduce the risk of inaction or “doing nothing” the Task Force proposes a call to action. Five high priority action items for executing the Strategic Action Plan are proposed to ensure the successful implementation of the Strategic Action plan.

Priority One - Disseminating the Strategic Action Plan

Ensuring that the entire CoSE community and the SF State campus is informed of the Strategic Action Plan enhances transparency and accountability, fostering a collective understanding and commitment to the vision and mission of the Plan. The strategic Plan was shared with CoSE, SF State campus and the broader community through this website to disseminate the report.

Priority Two - Creating an Associate Dean Position

The establishment of an Associate Dean position dedicated to antiracism ensures a structural commitment to the goals outlined in the plan. This position is imperative to advancing initiatives for implementing the Strategic Action Plan. An Assistant Dean has been appointed by the Dean. Assistant Dean Harris is tasked with implementing the goals and objectives of the Strategic Action Plan. “We must honor those who sacrificed their lives. Although we continue to experience the trauma of racism, we must commit to confronting racism and to stopping its violence and destruction.” (Harris, New assist dean dedicated to nurturing an antiracist culture, from Rajan, SF State News, August 2, 2023)

Priority Three - Establishing an Antiracism Committee

The formation of an Antiracism Committee is integral to institutionalizing continuous efforts for addressing racism. This committee comprised of faculty, staff and students representing multicultural communities, is formed to implement and meet the Strategic Action Plan’s short- and long-term goals and accountability benchmarks for dismantling racist structures and building new structures of multiculturalism, inclusion, equity and anti-racism within the college. The Committee is responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and recommending actions to fulfill the goals and objectives of the Strategic Action Plan.

Priority Four - Funding for the Strategic Action Plan

Financial support is critical for the successful implementation of the Strategic Action plan. Allocating adequate resources demonstrates a tangible commitment to the goals and objectives ensuring that initiatives are supported by necessary financial resources to effect real, sustainable change. CoSE has provided resources to implement the goals and objectives of the Strategic Action Plan.

Priority Five - Accessing Data

Data access is essential for informed decision-making and progress evaluation. Establishing mechanisms to collect, analyze, and utilize relevant data enhances the institution's ability to measure the impact of the Strategic Action Plan and modify the objectives and actions as needed to meet the needs of the Strategic Action Plan.

Final Points for executing the Strategic Action Plan

The success and impact of the Strategic Action Plan is based upon the investment of resources by CoSE. To experience real, sustainable change, CoSE must dedicate time, through the commitment and effort of individuals, and the financial resources that are needed to implement the Strategic Plan.

A key factor toward the success of the CoSE strategic action plan is the support and involvement of the greater campus community. Building partnerships with administration and fostering collaboration with the goal of nurturing an anti-racist, inclusive campus community is crucial. The initiation of partnerships has begun and continued efforts in this direction will contribute to the overarching vision and mission of the Strategic Action Plan.

Assistant Dean of College of Science & Engineering

San Francisco State University Professor Diane Harris is the newly appointed assistant dean for the College of Science & Engineering (CoSE), tasked with institutionalizing an anti-racist multicultural community within the college. The inspiration for the position began in 2020 when CoSE issued a statement of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement after the murder of George Floyd and others, such as Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. Harris credits CoSE Dean Carmen Domingo for starting CoSE’s initial conversations and coordinating community commitment three years ago.

As assistant dean, Harris is tasked with implementing the goals and objectives of the Strategic Action Plan developed by the CoSE Anti-Racism Task Force and completed in August 2022. One of these tasks for assistant dean Harris, in collaboration with Dean Domingo and members of CoSE, is to create an Antiracism Committee (ARC). Harris will work closely with ARC — which will be comprised of faculty, staff and students representing multicultural communities — to meet the Strategic Action Plan’s short- and long-term goals and accountability benchmarks for dismantling racist structures and building new structures of multiculturalism, inclusion, equity and anti-racism within the college.

Although eradicating racism is a worthy goal, it is a lofty one and this work is very complex. Among the overarching goals of the Strategic Action Plan is the goal of assessing the racial climate that CoSE students, faculty and staff experience in their academic endeavors.

Another goal of the CoSE Strategic Action Plan aligns with the commitment across SF State and the CSU system to generate a climate of anti-racism through social justice for diversity, inclusion and equity. Building partnerships between CoSE and other colleges throughout the SF State community will advance social justice, create a climate of antiracism and produce a community of multiculturalism, inclusion and equity across campus.

“We will be constantly evaluating our policies and practices to discern whether or not they are effective in allowing us to change the existing racial climate to an inclusive and equitable community of multiculturalism,” Harris explains. This process requires commitment from faculty, staff and students, as well as time, effort and resources to facilitate the building of an anti-racism, multicultural community.