One of the skills we value highly in our students in the Youth and Social Innovation program at the Curry School of Education, or YSI, is the ability to put aside preconceptions and truly listen to people. YSI’s goal is to prepare students to collaborate with community members in innovating responses to challenges, and we see it as vital that those who seek to help take care to defer to the lived experiences of the community they desire to serve.
As a faculty which works to foster this skill in our students, it would be remiss of us not to practice it ourselves. It is clear to the YSI faculty that the University community is facing a challenge, and it is time for us to listen.
The Black Student Association has served to voice the concerns of black students at the University since 1969, and it is disconcerting that over 40 years later the BSA continues to have to challenge the University administration to respond productively to events, like students finding the n-word scrawled across doors, or to consistently low percentages of African-American faculty across grounds. The events of Aug. 11 and 12 garnered enough of a reaction from the University community as a whole that when the BSA proposed its list of demands to the University administration, 25 other organizations signed on in support. The demands deal with issues of protection of our community, whether they be DACA recipients threatened by deportation or students hoping to avoid the incited violence of white supremacist groups. They deal with the support of the community, in making a living wage the minimum we can do for those who maintain the University and its grounds. They deal with the diversity of our community, in calling for plans to make the University a better reflection of the diversity of our Commonwealth. And they deal with the history of our community, in calling for an open acknowledgement of our past misdeeds and committing to rectifying them — whether that involves returning financial gifts of white supremacists or removing their names from undeserved places of honor.
It is clear to us that the University has taken positive steps toward some of those goals in recent years, yet the list of demands makes it clear there is still much to be done. The faculty of YSI have listened to our students, both as members of groups signatory to the demands and individually as concerned members of the University community, as they have asked us to stand with them — to support them in this as we support them in their educational goals. It is a request that we cannot, in good conscience, ignore.
The YSI faculty supports the BSA demands. We offer our time and expertise where it is needed to help resolve these demands to the good of our community, and ask others at the University to thoughtfully consider adding their support as well. We reaffirm the importance of listening to our students and responding to their needs as the University community works to address the issues raised in the Demands.
Our students have spoken. We have listened. We add our voices to theirs.
Sincerely,
Youth and Social Innovation Faculty
Curry School of Education
Read More
EDITORIAL: Pedestrian safety is an institutional imperative
By Editorial Board | YesterdayAmid a national crisis of pedestrian safety, Charlottesville and the University are also struggling to properly maintain pedestrian safety.
YOUNIS: The danger of dehumanizing language
By Ayat Younis | 3 days agoThe administration’s failure to condemn blatant discrimination exacerbates an impossible situation, fostering an atmosphere that misinterprets pro-Palestinian sentiments as support of terrorism.
BRUNMAN: U.Va. administration, protect your Jewish students
By Wylie Brunman | 3 days agoWhen antisemitism is increasingly prevalent on Grounds and when Jewish students feel unsafe and unprotected, it is clear that the University must take active action to safeguard Jewish students.
