Telling the Story of Diversity at the University of Washington | Fall 2020
viewpoint
:: Telling the Story of Diversity at the University of Washington
FALL 2020
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POINT of VIEW
FOUNDED 2004
Words to Guide Us
Published by the UW Alumni Association in partnership with the UW Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity
This has been a challenging and painful year. Many Black students, faculty, staff and members of our BIPOC communities have suffered disproportionately from the grief and outrage that comes with witnessing tragedy and injustice. At this institution and in this state, we talk a great deal about equity. As we move forward, the decisions we make and how we make them will determine if we truly are centering equity in our actions. This issue of Viewpoint is produced with BIPOC communities in mind, especially our Black students, faculty, colleagues and alumni. In this edition, six UW community members have graciously shared their experiences and used their voices to further conversations about the role our university should play in undoing systemic racism. Their words are a reminder that we must do better—be better. As we note the urgency of this moment, may we also reflect upon the work of countless alumni, student leaders and UW community members who, over the last 50 years, have catalyzed significant changes in the University. UW student activism during the Civil Rights era led to the establishment of OMA&D, increased diversity in faculty hiring and made way for generations to follow with new demands for a changing world. As a public university, it is important that we acknowledge that the work itself is part of a long struggle to dismantle systems in higher education that have historically caused harm to underrepresented and marginalized communities. Still today, we must work to go beyond acknowledgements and further our efforts to create an accessible, welcoming and equitable institution and community. Five years ago, President Ana Mari Cauce launched the Race & Equity Initiative to confront bias, transform our institutional policies and center racial equity in all we do. There has been progress made, but not enough. We are doubling down on our efforts and are working toward meaningful and lasting institutional change. We realize the work cannot be done in isolation and are calling on our alumni to be a part of the change process. With that in mind, the UW Alumni Association has developed a Race, Equity and Justice Resource Center to extend the stories and expertise from our campuses to our community of alumni and friends. One goal for the resource center is to engage alumni from BIPOC communities and center their voices. Another is to provide resources to help all alumni join in the work of dismantling structural racism. It is time for all of us to roll up our sleeves and set about helping to make the University of Washington truly be, as President Cauce often says, the University FOR Washington. We do that by removing barriers for those from underrepresented and marginalized communities, addressing structural and systemic racism and seeing the humanity in us all.
Rickey Hall Vice President for Minority Affairs & Diversity
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viewpoint STA F F
IN THIS ISSUE
4 Alexes Harris
Paul Rucker, ’95, ’02 P U BL ISHE R
Alexes Harris, ’97 GUEST EDITOR
6 Navon Morgan 8 Claire Gwai-Chore 10 LeAnne Wiles
GU E ST E D IT OR
Hannelore Sudermann, ’96 E D IT OR
Ken Shafer A RT D IRE C T OR
Quinn Russell Brown, ’13 P HOT OGRA P HE R
12 LaShawnDa Pittman 14 De’Sean Quinn
viewpoint ADVISORY COMMITTEE Rickey Hall Vice President for Minority Affairs & Diversity Chief Diversity Officer
Eleanor J. Lee, ’00, ’05
ABOUT THE COVER Artist Moses Sun recently participated in two significant Black Lives Matter mural projects in Seattle including the mural at the Wing Luke Museum featured on our back page of this issue. He describes his work as a visual meditation that expresses Blackness, humanity and his personal history. After conversations with the guest editor, Professor Alexes Harris, and reading the essays in this issue, he was inspired to create our cover honoring Black voices.
Director of Communications UW Graduate School
Tamara Leonard Associate Director Center for Global Studies Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies
Leilani Lewis Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for UW Advancement
BLACK VOICES For this issue of Viewpoint, we wanted to focus
on what structural change could look like for our University. Our guest editor, Professor Alexes Harris, invited a faculty member, a current undergraduate student, a graduate student, a staff member and an alumnus to share their insights into how our community could better serve and support Black students, staff, faculty and alumni, and how we can move to foster a more just, equitable and inclusive community. We asked two questions: 1. What can the UW do to address racism and advance racial justice on our campus specifically and broadly? 2. What can you—the alumni, faculty, staff and students—do to further social justice? PHOTOS BY QUINN RUSSELL BROWN
the story of diversity at the UW
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ALEXES HARR IS GU E S T E D IT O R
Bringing Our Voices Together
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am more than honored to serve as the guest editor for this special issue of Viewpoint highlighting voices of Black people from around our University community. I am a hometown girl, born and raised in Seattle, whose life was changed by the University of Washington. I have experienced how it can be a place of opportunity and an agent for equity. However, we need change and it will take all of us—alumni, faculty, staff and students—to help make our campus a more inclusive and just community. Growing up in Madrona and attending school in the Central District, I learned early about social problems, violence, poverty and racism. I also learned about community, diversity, empowerment and organizing. I developed a strong instinct for social justice while at Garfield High School, and a desire to engage in youth empowerment. I am also a first-generation college graduate who, when I started out, did not even know the name of the degree I would be getting. But my parents instilled in me the importance of going to college because they didn’t have the opportunity.
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Clair Huxtable (the fictional mother and lawyer on “The Cosby Show”) was my role model. Like her, I wanted to go to law school and be a lawyer. I thought my path was obvious: I would major in political science and then go to law school and become a public defender. It turns out that I did not like my first political science class. But I fell in love with sociology and my whole trajectory changed. My first sociology class was taught by the passionate and thought-provoking senior lecturer, Al Black. It didn't take me much longer to discover classes with Bob Crutchfield, Johnnella Butler and Darlene Conley, all professors who were Black, and all of whom inspired and encouraged my intellectual development. I engaged in the UW’s Early Identification Program (which opened up the option of graduate school) and participated in a research program within the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology. The grant was for students of color and those who were the first in their families to attend college. In these spaces and communities, the amazing world of academia came into my view.
I learned I could research and write about the social problems I was puzzled by and passionate about. I could teach issues related to the criminal and juvenile legal systems, and race and ethnic relations in the U.S. I could help inspire the next generation of citizens, organizers and leaders to think critically. I could engage with policy reform to try to create a better world. And I could go to graduate school! Upon completing my Ph.D. in sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles, I was fortunate to return to the UW as a postdoctoral researcher in 2002 and then to land a position as a tenuretrack assistant professor in 2004. Today, I am the Presidential Term Professor and a professor of sociology. I have these honors because of my experiences, education and the support I received at the UW. Sitting in classes taught by Black faculty who “saw” me, engaged with my ideas, and inspired me to believe even I could earn a Ph.D. and more, become a professor, was absolutely life changing. Returning to the UW as an “opportunity hire” with, in part, the aim of helping diversify our campus mattered to me. People of color advocated for me to come home and have a job opportunity here at the UW. I share my story because I want the University to provide a similar educational experience for all of our students. I want the same support for all of our faculty and staff. And I've experienced how the UW has done this for a few, but I question if we are doing enough for the many. In 1997, my class at the UW created the first Black Graduation ceremony. Annually, this is an amazingly powerful and emotionfilled gathering. However, even today, a common thread in the speeches is how hard it is for Black students to “get through” our predominantly white university. The pain of being singled out as the lone voice for Black students in a classroom, being the subject of study, not having a Black professor, and struggling to make friends and build confidence is palpable. Our college experience should not be this way. The UW community needs to recognize this isolation and remedy it with real structural changes. My hope is that the essays that follow can help instigate these conversations. We are in an unprecedented moment, one that many refer to as a double pandemic. Because of COVID-19, our country has been brought to an economic and cultural standstill. In addition, with a series of recent video images of police killing Black men, our collective breath has been taken away. For centuries, we have known the pain and stress of racism, but it seems that now many others outside the Black community are being alerted to these structural inequalities. For the first time, they are highlighted by the health crisis and images of state-sponsored violence. In response to this moment, institutions and universities are making public statements that “Black Lives Matter.” At my invitation, the following contributors have provided context and more detail for needed changes at our University: Claire Gwayi-Chore, a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Public Health, describes in a palpable way her recent experiences during the pandemic and state-sponsored violence in calling awareness to “not being OK.” Her experiences are so similar to those of staff, faculty and students regarding the depth of emotional and time-consuming engagement to make white faculty, staff and students in her college understand what this moment means. Navon Morgan, an undergraduate student in the class of 2023, urges UW alumni and faculty to engage with and support current students advocating for structural change, particularly around the
UW Police Department. He writes that many of the conversations and demands of students in 2020 are the same or similar to concerns raised by UW students 50 years ago. De’Sean Quinn, an alum of the class of 2000, highlights the importance of making community connections among faculty, students and communities within Washington. His essay describes how his public service career has provided a way for him to help center Black voices and concerns and work with those in power to navigate policy changes to better reflect community needs. LaShawnDa Pittman, assistant professor in the American Ethnic Studies department, encourages the UW administration to be thoughtful about the demands and limitations placed on BIPOC faculty—and to think about how to structurally support them with equitable salaries, housing and advancement opportunities. LeAnne Wiles, director of First Year Programs, outlines insightful and practical steps that University leaders can take to support BIPOC staff in finding and creating comfortable spaces, and for developing the perspectives and skills of white people on our campus to thoughtfully engage with people who don’t look like them. The voices of these authors are theirs alone. But they raise key concerns, issues and practical changes that our University could make to create a more inclusive, safe, equitable and diverse community. I hope this issue of Viewpoint sparks a collective conversation within our Black UW community. We have differences of perspectives and opinions, and we will not all agree in everything said or what we think is needed. But at the very least, we need to engage with each other in a respectful way so that everyone is valued and welcomed to share their perspectives. We also need to move forward to engage with UW administrators to work for real and measurable structural change. What are different benchmarks that should be set to evaluate changes in the short and long term? What data needs to be collected and analyzed to determine if these changes are making a difference? Institutions move slowly. But we are at moment for change and we need to apply and support constant pressure and expect certain outcomes. We are all tired from these past eight months of social distancing and watching people who look like us being killed by the police. We have been protesting, organizing and speaking out about structural racism. Like so many others, I do not have much energy left in my tank. Some may even think these conversations and fights aren’t worth it—we’ve been there, done that, and no one listens. But we need to push forward both for people who are no longer able, and for those without power. We need to keep using our collective voices and to leverage whatever power we have, be it resources, status or insight, to demand change. In doing this work, we can support generations of young people in seeking their passion—in a similar way to how the UW unlocked mine 25 years ago. And, if we do this right, our students will carry the work forward without the burden of having the same conversations over and over again, as Navon describes. Especially now, at a moment when local and national leaders are saying “Black Lives Matter,” let’s put pressure to show them how we matter, and how our institutions need to support us. I won’t ever stop lifting up our voices and searching for ways we can collectively work together to ensure our campus and broader community is just and inclusive for all of our Black lives. Our true character shows in hard times. How are you going to make change in this hard moment? the story of diversity at the UW
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Navon Morgan is a sophomore who came to the UW from Fort Vancouver High School in southwest Washington. His academic pursuits include international studies and political science. He is also the 2020-2021 vice president of campus affairs for the Black Student Union. In recent months he has been a key student voice in campus-wide discussions about dismantling structural racism, increasing the number Black faculty and changing how policing happens on campus.
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BLACK VOICES 1|5
Tangible and Lasting Change Let’s leave the institution better than we found it.
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By NAVON MORGAN
t’s important to preface this conversation by noting that many of the institutions we live with were not built to accommodate Black and Indigenous people’s needs. With the UW, so far, there’s been a Band-Aid solution to mitigate these structural issues. The school is happy to put up pictures and words celebrating diversity, but when it comes to getting rid of some of the things within the University that uphold white supremacy, we shy away from the challenge. As a school, we claim that this is a safe place for marginalized students to learn, yet we protect enslavers’ statues on our campus and name departments after known racists. We celebrate this University as a place for everyone but have so few Black faculty, that Black undergraduate and graduate students don’t feel fully supported. These contradictions are glaring signs of the need for tangible and lasting change. While many existing initiatives make it seem like the University is making progress, students have been having some of these conversations—like hiring Black faculty—for decades, and concrete action has yet to come. For those in power, it’s just a waiting game until student activists graduate and leave. Then students find themselves “starting the conversation” all over again a few years later with usually the common factor being that a Black person somewhere in the country had to be brutalized for us to wake up and acknowledge issues that have been apparent for years. I work within the Black Student Union, and one of the demands we’ve pushed for includes fundamentally changing our campus safety system so that all students can feel protected. We crafted this demand after hearing multiple stories detailing a shared reality with the BSU constituency that many students don’t feel secure under our current campus safety system that is the University of Washington Police Department (UWPD). For me, these fears are also a constant hindrance to enjoying the UW's learning environment. Usually, my reminder comes after working a late night at Odegaard Library. Walking out of the building at 3 a.m., you always see a cop car posted. Perhaps for many students, the sight of a police car offers some sense of comfort. As a Black man, though, as soon as that car enters my vision, I automatically tense up. I’ll find myself doing illogical and unnatural learned behaviors like taking off my hoodie in the rain or taking my hands out of my pockets in the cold. No one ever had to teach me these things but growing up in an era of viral dashcam videos, you pick up mannerisms to feel safe. Walking slowly and as quietly as possible, I hope that the officer doesn’t wave or signal to me to stop. Though
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Student, Class of 2023 I’ve done nothing wrong, I've seen that sometimes all it takes is fitting a description for a police stop and for potential violence to ensue. There is a lack of trust between many of us and the police and no amount of positive interactions that others describe can fix that for me. While much of the visible campus activism will likely be student-led, the backbone to that work is allied faculty. Researching and helping us understand the work that predates us is crucial. So is assisting us in proving the status quo isn’t working. When you all show up with insightful expertise on fixing flawed systems, it legitimizes the changes we are asking for. Lastly for faculty, being flexible with student organizers helps a lot. Though we recognize our first job is to be students, choosing between classwork and fighting for those we care about is neither an easy nor a fair choice. When we have professors like some of mine, who are understanding and patient, the learning experience and environment are enhanced. In many ways, our valued alumni and the broader community are where the most vital organizing power lies. You can add pressure from your side that makes positive change feel unstoppable for those pushing back. Unfortunately, too many see their alma mater as a place that should continue to be the familiar University they experienced. We should instead try to consistently progress as a community. To start this process, begin challenging your assumptions about how the University is supporting its BIPOC students. Listen to some of the things students have said over the years. If you agree our University could use some structural reform, sign on to the BSU petition for demands that students and faculty have put together. For some of these issues, like removing harmful symbols across campus or increasing the diversity course requirement, pressure and support in the right areas can make our goals possible within the year. Other ideas, like drastically changing our campus safety apparatus to better reflect student needs, are longer-term commitments, but they are already showing progress. However you show up for us, your presence is a reminder to the administration that these problems existed even when you were a student, and that you’re against maintaining the status quo. Ultimately, student activists are just one small part of this, and our reach is limited in scope and time. There is an extensive web of power. You—the faculty and alumni—stepping in and doing the work in whatever capacity can help make sure we leave this institution better than we found it. the story of diversity at the UW
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Claire Gwayi-Chore is a Ph.D. student in the Global Health Implementation Science program. She has extensive experience with large-scale school- and community-based health interventions in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Claire is passionate about working toward health and economic empowerment and poverty alleviation through community-based participatory research; capacity building of African research institutes and public health professionals; and mentorship, specifically for girls and young women of color. She serves on her department’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee, and is working toward improving the learning experience for students of color and helping raise their voices. Last spring, she was recognized for her work on campus with the School of Public Health’s Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award.
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BLACK VOICES 2|5
Justice Should Be Our North Star Students are doing the work, but we need the help of faculty and staff.
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By CLAIRE GWAYI-CHORE
hen the color of your skin is seen as a weapon, you will never be seen as unarmed. When I read this quote from the Black Lives Matter movement, I knew I had to respond. It spoke to me in such a visceral way. Yet, weeks of quarantine and juggling teaching, learning and research—the typical unbalanced life of a graduate student—had me so stressed and exhausted, I couldn’t even think of what that “something” was. The University had shared so many resources and messages in regards to the pandemic, yet my Department of Global Health, the wider School of Public Health (SPH) and the greater University were silent about ongoing racial injustices. It was clear that students who identify as Black, Indigenous or a person of color (BIPOC) were not being prioritized, and I could no longer stay silent. So, at 7 a.m. on May 28, three days after George Floyd was killed by police, I opened my laptop and wrote an email to my department and school leadership stating: “Please check on your Black students, colleagues and friends. We are not OK.” In that message, I emphasized the mental and emotional stress of performing as a Black student. It is already difficult enough navigating academia while Black. Imagine having to deal with all of that while dedicating your energy to anti-racism and diversity, equity and inclusion work on- and off-campus and trying to manage the impact of COVID-19 on your community—all while seeing on TV every day for months others who look like you being murdered. I do not take all of the credit for catalyzing the school into action, but for many, that was a moment of awakening. I was suddenly pulled into meetings with my chair, dean and other leaders from across campus. I was invited to share my perspective with various advisory boards. I suddenly had access to the voices, policies and strategies that decide my success as a BIPOC student in terms of recruitment, matriculation and graduation. I learned how the academic system really works and what drives decision-making. However, that access came with a price. First, I became the educator—teaching about the impacts of racism on BIPOC, defining what it means to be an ally vs. an advocate, explaining the harms of white supremacy, and disentangling the difference between intention and impact when moments of white fragility emerged. Second, I became the crusader—speaking up for other BIPOC students who feared retaliation or felt that their voice would not be heard. Hearing their stories of racial trauma experienced at the UW was angering yet bizarrely affirming. I felt deflated at hearing how the institution failed to protect them, yet saw
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Ph.D. Student, Class of 2022
myself in similar moments when I wondered whether I was irrational for feeling like a victim of a macro- or microaggression. Third, I became the laborer—developing and reviewing strategic documents, crafting public messaging, updating curricula and bylaws, and organizing meetings, all while protesting for my life to matter. My personal currency of activism was quickly depleted. By July I was mentally and emotionally exhausted. I had to unlearn all of the productivity parables I thought were true and learn that rest, in itself, is a radical form of activism for people who identify as BIPOC. And so, I took a much-needed break to refill my activism “purse” and reframe the work that I am passionate about. This is the message for the University, especially those who teach, advise and support students: You cannot rely on BIPOC students to do the work of labeling and disrupting racism. Working toward anti-racism is a collaborative effort and everyone must take part—especially those who benefit most from racism and white supremacy. We do not need acts of performative activism like one-off emails or panel discussions. We first need deep, introspective learning to understand the history and practice of racism and colonialism in higher education and research, followed by time to unlearn all of the resulting overt and covert violent practices against BIPOC educators and students. In turn, we must develop strategic, intersectional responses that aim to dismantle—not merely transform— the racist system we all live, work and learn under. In short, “the same systems responsible for our oppression cannot be responsible for our justice,” as human rights lawyer Derecka Purnell wrote. As a new academic year starts, and in the wake of a new wave of global protests for Black Lives Matter, the University must work harder to confront and dismantle racism. This effort requires urgency because as you wait, your BIPOC students continue to be stressed, harassed, injured and murdered. Speaking on behalf of students, we have to be able to keep our leadership, faculty and staff accountable and demand change without fear of repercussion. We need an urgent shift in the climate and system. It must be steeped in anti-racism, anti-colonialism and any other form of acting against discrimination that affects the safety and success of students, especially those of marginalized and underrepresented identities. I hope that the UW continues to amplify the voices of studentactivists like me who are committed to confronting and dismantling racism and thus, helping make the institution a better place. Justice, not merely impact, should be our North Star. the story of diversity at the UW
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LeAnne Jones Wiles is the director of First Year Programs in Undergraduate Academic Affairs and has worked at the UW since 2009. Wiles oversees a team responsible for transitioning and welcoming over 8,500 new undergraduate students each year. FYP partners with community organizations and campus units to support a robust and meaningful first-year experience. Wiles has worked on campuses around the country, served on advisory boards across the UW and in the Seattle area, holds a master’s in public administration, is a former foster parent, and enjoys spending time with her two children, Jade and Jalen, and her partner Kristian.
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BLACK VOICES 3|5
Problem or Solution? It is time to push for more profound strategies for change.
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By LEANNE WILES
re you a part of the problem or the solution?” As a child, I consistently heard that question from my father when I would come to him with a dilemma. Frustrated, I would respond, “Dad, it’s not that simple.” He would smile and say it again. I now know he repeated this phrase not to torment me, but to push me to refocus and decide what I could control and what I could not. Good or bad, this has been my philosophy moving through my career as a Black professional. When you live in a world where you continually see signs that your Black body does not matter, it can be paralyzing. Knowing that you will be overlooked, misinterpreted and given feedback that you are too loud, direct, angry or just too hostile because you are a Black person in this world can be exhausting. To have your child tell you that she doesn't feel safe going to the store with you because she fears you will be attacked or killed is devastating. During those times, I call to my ancestors. I am six generations removed from their enslavement. Jack and Mariah Summerall labored on a plantation in Baxley, Georgia. If my ancestors can survive being enslaved, then I can decide how I want to not just survive but thrive. I currently serve as the Director of First Year Programs in Undergraduate Academic Affairs. Our team focuses on the transition experience for first-year students at the UW. In moving toward racial equity, we have to rephrase the question. “What can I as an individual, the department, our division or college, and our campuses do to move toward racial equity?” We have to break down the questions to create benchmarks and metrics in each area. In my department, we have moved toward racial equity through the evaluation of our onboarding and hiring of staff and student employees. We started with the diversity toolkit provided by the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity, created racial equity goals and evaluated our process. From this evaluation, we realized that there was bias in our professional staff hiring process, and that transfer and international students were constantly less successful when applying for paid student leadership positions. Instead of assuming this was a candidate issue, we assessed how our process fostered these results, then made adjustments. For the UW to continue to move toward racial equity, I hope we continue to focus and set actionable goals and metrics with accountability. Do we want more faculty of color? Do we want to target the recruitment of a specific type of undergraduate student? Do we want to increase access to positions of influence for staff? What are we striving for? We have seen UW executive leadership set the
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vision, and I, as a staff employee, come with individual expectations. However, if faculty and staff, including departmental chairs, non-tenured faculty, directors and managers, do not translate the vision to actionable goals and metrics with accountability, we will continue to fall short of achieving racial equity. Unfortunately, this decentralized action takes time and resources, all while we are managing a host of other pressing issues that intersect with and complicate our ability to keep a laser focus on racial equity. So again, what is our focus? Who defines the focus? We all have to be engaged. That starts with policy, practice and people. Many of our equity conversations go straight to amplifying unheard voices and seeking out first-person narratives. But we need the narrative of the many, not just one or two. We should push beyond basic representation—counting how many people of color— and set baseline metrics for all of our campuses that reflect more profound and diverse strategies for change. We need to be shifting the mindset and culture and listening to the collective narrative with the head and the heart. When I, as a Black professional, tell my truth, some people treat it like a theoretical exercise, providing surface-level communications to “check the box,” expressing their own individual guilt and hearing and learning about the experience without taking action to do anything about it. To move toward racial justice, we should require faculty and staff to have progressive levels of training in anti-racism practices. It will help them understand their own privileged identities and biases. Then we should coach them to become allies in action; furnishing them with tools for dismantling racist structures should be a priority. The UW can provide funding for departments to review hiring practices and empower and support faculty and staff who offer differences. Alumni are integral to our success. I’ve witnessed alumni returning to keep us accountable, and they hold the legacy and memory of this University. My hope is that they continue to stay in the conversation with the University and reflect and bring practices to the equity conversation that they have seen in their professions. Are you part of the problem or the solution? It’s hard to think about shifting the dominant mindset and culture, but this is about taking opportunities to evolve. We have made strides in hiring, training and creating community dialogues. With authentic engagement that leads to accountability, we can all continue to be part of the solution. This work is not somebody else’s. It is all of ours. the story of diversity at the UW
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LaShawnDa Pittman is an assistant professor in American Ethnic Studies. She holds a doctorate in sociology from Northwestern University. Her research and teaching interests include social stratification and inequality, urban poverty, race and ethnicity, gender and families, public policy and health disparities. Before coming to the UW, she was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Poverty Research at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, a National Science Foundation postdoctoral research fellow, and postdoctoral fellow at the National Poverty Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 2017, she launched the “Real Black Grandmothers” website to archive the voices and stories of Black grandmothers and challenge stereotypes. She is also working on a manuscript: “Grandmothering While Black: A Twenty-First Century Story of Love, Coercion, and Survival.” In June, she delivered the keynote address for the UW’s 2020 Black Graduation.
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BLACK VOICES 4|5
Work to Be Done We need deeper solutions to address the fuller needs of our communities.
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By LASHAWNDA PITTMAN
t’s important to point out what the UW has gotten right. We have a sundry of initiatives and institutes that bring attention to the plight and power of Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC). To name a few: the Relational Poverty Network, Urban@UW, the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology, the West Coast Poverty Center, the Center for Communication, Difference, and Equity, the Center for Child and Family Well-Being, and the Population Health Initiative. In 2015, we hired Ana Mari Cauce, the first Latina to serve as our college’s president. In 2019, Joy WilliamsonLott became the dean of UW’s Graduate School. These kinds of hires are important because they demonstrate that women of color, who experience the negative effects of gendered racism on their careers, can move into leadership roles at UW and in academia. It’s important to take stock of what we’ve accomplished so we can remember that our collective activism, past and present, isn’t in vain. Still, our administration is overwhelmingly white and male. We have a way to go to make sure the leaders within the various departments and institutes look like the greater University community and reflect the diversity that exists in the larger society. In part, this will require improving the pipeline for faculty of color at UW, which is a structural issue and not one unique to our university. Reducing the racial disparities that faculty of color experience at every stage of tenure and promotion will involve making sure they have the resources they need to be productive. This includes research money and support on a par with their white colleagues (since we know that BIPOC experience racial disparities in receiving external funding), being thoughtful about requests for them to provide service without taking something away (for example, a reduction in teaching load and other service work) or adding something (such as research and teaching assistance, summer salary or research funds), and mentorship at every stage so that BIPOC faculty are exposed to and supported in pursuing leadership roles across campus. The UW is well aware that it needs more BIPOC faculty. According to 2018 data from the Board of Regents Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisory Committee, 69% of professorial faculty are white, while 1.8% are Black. The University also needs to retain Black faculty by eliminating—not just reducing—pay disparities, addressing the high cost of living in Seattle and incorporating their invisible labor into their tenure and promotion assessments since we know that faculty of color engage in additional “race” work. We have programs that promote the hiring, retention, and suc-
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AES Assistant Professor
cess of a diverse faculty. I can personally say I’ve experienced, and at times witnessed, the effectiveness of these programs. But there is still work to be done. The lack of diversity in Seattle combined with the lack of affordable housing makes it a difficult place for BIPOC faculty and students—especially graduate students—to thrive. Students and faculty are drawn to UW for the opportunities, but they need compelling reasons to stay. One of the most compelling is the chance to “have a life” here, being able to afford a home and build community. Some of this can be done with cluster hires for faculty, graduate student recruitment and a housing initiative. These are structural issues and we need to stop framing them as individual ones. As a sociologist, I know that if enough people are consistently saying and experiencing the same thing, it indicates a pattern that must be addressed structurally. In other words, it shouldn’t be up to each BIPOC faculty or student to remedy these issues on their own since most are in no position to do so. What can you—the alum, student, faculty member or employee—do? Faculty can create opportunities for students to learn about racism and advance racial justice in more creative and impactful ways, incorporating their activism, art and community involvement into assignments. They can help students build community connections and collaborations based on their unique interests and career/learning goals and they can provide service-learning opportunities. This is work that my colleagues and I do in American Ethnic Studies. I see my students calling for educational experiences that allow them to think and operate in fresh and creative ways and provide them opportunities to give back and learn outside of campus. I was recently involved with faculty and BIPOC student leaders in the University’s first Abolitionist Institute. It was a transformative experience for faculty and students alike. We need more of this! Our students, especially BIPOC student leaders, are already doing so much to advance racial justice. Student groups including the Black Student Union, UW BLM, the African Students Association, the Graduate Opportunities and Minority Achievement Program, the Latinx Student Union, the Pacific Islander Student Commission, the American Indian Student Commission, the Association of Black Business Students and the Black Law Students Association, fill critical gaps on campus and continue to make demands to address their unique needs. I also hope that alumni, faculty and the administration support their efforts to make all that the UW offers them more racially equitable, just and safe. After all, they are the future. the story of diversity at the UW
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De’Sean Quinn got his first taste of community service volunteering alongside his father at the local Boys & Girls Club. He started his public sector career working for King County Executive Ron Sims, serving as the council relations director and chief liaison to the King County Council. He also worked as regional relations manager under Executive Dow Constantine. Today he is the strategic planning manager for King County Metro Transit. Quinn made his home in Tukwila, drawn by its cultural diversity and vibrancy. As a Tukwila City Council member since 2008, he works to empower his fellow residents, ensure the community is affordable and help it grows sustainably. His volunteer work includes the Forterra Board, an environmental and conservation organization and the Washington state Commission on African American Affairs.
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V I E W P O I N T : : U Wa l u m . c o m / v i e w p o i n t
BLACK VOICES 5|5
How Can the UW Engage? Faculty and students can help counter inequities in our communities.
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By DE’SEAN QUINN
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Tukwila City Council, Alumnus, ’00
didn’t appreciate this at the time, but my experience at the UW was really a journey. I grew up on Beacon Hill and at the time I graduated high school in 1990 it was almost like a renaissance around the Civil Rights movement. Hip-hop had really started picking up and there was an identity there for me. I was inspired to go to a historically Black college or university (HBCU). I wanted to have the experience of being embraced and surrounded by my culture while attending college. But being a late bloomer, I didn’t have it all together. So, in my first year, I took the opportunity to go to the UW to improve my SAT scores. At the UW, the community was big, but it wasn’t that diverse. I felt my instructors had low expectations of me. Fortunately, I found a great sociology professor who challenged me, and I earned the grades that helped me get into Morehouse. I transferred. I played football. I had my dream of being surrounded by the African American community, the experience of being in the majority. I learned how to take the ideas I encountered back to my home community. I experienced so many wonderful things—the culture, the bands marching down streets named after icons of the Civil Rights movement. Our chapel had a statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I walked the same pathways so many icons like Dr. King had once traveled. Those are the things that woke me up. But I have three brothers, and going to a private school across the country is expensive. I wanted to leave a space for them, so I came back to the University of Washington to finish college. There were many differences between the two schools. At Morehouse, incredible leaders from the Civil Rights Movement would visit my classes. I remember once when John Lewis walked in to my history class and said he was proud of us and there to support us. By contrast, at the UW, our sociology studies were about people observing African American children and writing about their behaviors rather than developing programs to help them achieve. Popular and influential professors like Al Black did not have tenure, and that was noticed by the students. None of the teaching assistants were people of color. It was like the University was missing some steps. I realized that when it comes to advancing equity, you have to move away from just discussing theory and reviewing studies. You have to have a practicum and provide students with hands-on engagement with equity work and people with lived experiences. Through my studies and experiences, I was drawn to public service. After graduation, I worked on several political campaigns and
started my career in the public sector. Today I work for King County Metro Transit. I also serve on the Tukwila City Council, a position I have held since 2008. In my job and in the public service I do, I’m an implementer of equity. Something I hear all the time in the work I do around government structures is that usually those who are closest to the pain and to the solution are furthest from the power to make the change. But I believe that in nearly every project, there should be a place for people who have first-hand experience with inequity. The UW can do its part by helping businesses and organizations bring in people who, through their own experience, can help us all discover better ways to do things. Sometimes the University can be a city unto itself. Professors should be out in the community more putting their expertise to practical use. They can help organizations outside of campus get to the root causes of disparities. At the same time, by involving the students, we’re investing upstream—preparing a new generation to handle real-world systemic injustices after graduation. These are things I’ve learned and engaged in my professional career. In 2008, when Ron Sims was King County executive, he launched the equity and social justice initiative. I was the community relations manager and when that initiative matured into policy, I helped build it out with workplans that centered equity and social justice. Later, when Dow Constantine was executive, he asked me to chair the Conservation Futures tax. Ron had preserved 110,000 acres of forest land. This was the next iteration of that. Because I wanted to see people from the communities that I’m in have a voice in saying what the environment means to them, I formed the Open Space Equity Cabinet. By including the community and pursuing their expressed needs and ideas, we garnered $60 million dedicated to open space in urban areas. We engaged people with lived experience and with their insight, found matching dollars for the greenspace. These examples illustrate the kind of groundbreaking engagement that I would love to see the University of Washington be a part of. Alumni can be centering access and equity in the work they do as well. And those who are doing that can come back to campus and present how to move theories into practical applications. We’ve learned that the work of diversity and equity should not be sequestered within an institution. We should be connecting leaders who are implementors across organizations. I think back decades ago when diversity was first thrown out as a catchphrase. If only we would have fully embraced it then, if we had included people who pushed us out of our comfort zones, how far we could have come. the story of diversity at the UW
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Telling the Story of Diversity at the University of Washington
4333 Brooklyn Ave NE Campus Box 359508 Seattle, WA 98195
DAVID OH
Messages of Multicultural Support Late last spring, the killing of George Floyd sparked clashes between Seattle protestors and police, causing property damage to businesses in the Chinatown-International District. Though city workers and dozens of volunteers turned out to help clean up, many windows had to be covered with plywood. But from chaos can come beauty. About two weeks later, more than 100 artists stepped forward to bring life back to the normally vibrant neighborhood. Using the plywood as their canvasses, many of left messages of support from the Asian community for the Black Lives Matter movement. The mural that wrapped the Wing Luke Museum was designed by Seattle artist Moses Sun, who also created the letter “M” for the massive Black Lives Matter mural on Capitol Hill as well as the cover for this issue of Viewpoint.
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Sun chose an indigo blue background and chalked out the mural while a team of nearly 30 volunteers filled it in with paint. On one street side, the team pasted images of activists and advocates who have shown solidarity for people of color in Seattle—wellknown community members dedicated to their work for social justice and the public good, and many of them beloved UW alumni. Above, from left to right, are Diane Narasaki, ’77; Larry Gossett, ’71; Bob Santos; Dorothy Cordova (American Ethnic Studies); Pramila Jayapal (an affiliate instructor at the UW School of Law); Sharon Maeda, ’68; Wing Chong Luke, ’52, ’54; Dolores Sibonga, ’52, ’73; Donnie Chin; Sam Smith, ’52; and Ruby Chow. The museum reopened in early October and the plywood boards have been removed.