enterprise THE DAVIS
SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2020
#BlackInTheIvory UCD faculty call out racism in academia
ANNE WERNIKOFF/CALMATTERS PHOTO
A protester covers his face with an American flag during a reopen California demonstration on May 1 in Sacramento.
BY CALEB HAMPTON Enterprise staff writer Since police in Minneapolis killed George Floyd on May 25, calls for a reckoning with antiBlack racism have echoed beyond policing to nearly every sector of American life. Over the past two weeks, thousands of Black students and faculty spoke out, sharing their experiences with racism in academia. Many of the faculty, including professors at UC Davis and other University of California campuses, posted their experiences on Twitter with the hashtag #BlackInTheIvory. The stories detail a pattern of stereotyping, disregard and exclusion, all of which push Black students out of academia and impede the careers of Black faculty. “I knew from both my academic research and my own personal networks and experiences that racial exclusion in academia is rampant,” said Orly Clergé, a sociology professor at UC Davis who edited a book on racism in academia. But until now, she said, it had largely remained an open secret, especially on campuses where Black students and
Governor orders mask use BY ANA B. IBARRA CALEB HAMPTON/ENTERPRISE PHOTO
UC Davis faculty joined the #BlackInTheIvory hashtag campaign to share stories of exclusion in academia. faculty are vastly outnumbered.
white faculty member.
Roughly 70 percent of tenured faculty in the UC system are white, CLERGÉ while only 3 Sociology percent are professor Black. This means there are 32 Black students for every Black faculty member and eight white students for each
“The racial hostilities that Black faculty experience begin during their graduate experience with white advisors and peers,” Clergé said. “Black graduate students receive less mentorship and support from a majority white faculty. Our research showed that their ideas and contributions are devalued and they are often pushed out of graduate school before they can develop their projects and apply for faculty jobs.”
Several UC Davis students recalled instances when nonBlack peers or supervisors dismissed their capability because they were Black, sometimes explicitly associating Blackness with a lack of intelligence or professionalism. “Being #BlackInTheIvory means being told that you speak too ‘urban’ only a couple months into your Ph.D. and that you should drop out and
SEE FACULTY, PAGE A7
Davis resident decries removal of BLM greenbelt art BY LAUREN KEENE Enterprise staff writer A North Davis man is challenging the city over its order to remove artwork he erected on a local greenbelt supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. City officials, meanwhile, say while the removed piece posed a potential safety hazard, they’re willing to work with Wright on a possible compromise that would allow him to publicly express himself. “It was words and it was free speech,” Matthew Wright said of his artwork at Cortez and Diablo avenues near his home — a series of cardboard signs and 12-foot-tall bamboo letters spelling “BLM” — that also honored his late partner Jennifer “Harlequinn Bell” Walker, who passed away in December.
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“She was a proud Black woman and activist,” said Wright, 52, a Davis native who moved back here from Ohio after her death. He described the artwork as “provocative, designed to inspire discussion.” He noted that while he got many positive responses to his creation, not everyone reacted that way. One neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, said the display included spear-like stakes used to support the BLM letters that “I came within two inches of stepping on” before a friend intervened. The neighbor expressed concerns to another resident there, who removed the stakes. That became the subject of a police report Wright filed on June 9, saying a neighbor
INDEX
When hundreds gathered outside the state Capitol earlier this spring, demanding that Gov. Gavin Newsom reopen the state’s economy, some made clear they also had another message for him: You can’t make us wear a mask. One protester held a sign comparing face masks to dog muzzles, and many chanted and mingled without any type of face covering. But after weeks of mixed messaging and leaving the decision of implementing mask mandates up to counties, the state on Thursday saidface coverings will be required after all. “Science shows that face coverings
SEE MASK, PAGE A4
Poppenga won’t seek re-election to school board BY JEFF HUDSON Enterprise staff writer
The neighbor said residents
Davis school board trustee Robert Poppenga — elected in November 2016 — will not be running for a second term. “This was not an easy decision,” Poppenga said during last Thursday’s school board meeting, adding that he decided to announce his intentions at this time “so others can decide to run ... I’m hoping others will take the plunge.” The deadline for candidates to file paperwork with the Yolo
SEE ART, PAGE A4
SEE POPPENGA, PAGE A4
COURTESY PHOTO
Matthew Wright’s Black Lives Matter tribute on a North Davis greenbelt included a series of cardboard signs and 12-foot-tall bamboo letters spelling “BLM.” “admitted to destroying” part of the display by removing the stakes, “causing the sculpture to topple and break.” Davis police say they took a report and have
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forwarded it to the District Attorney’s Office for review.
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