[Agvisors] Fwd: Enough is Enough

Sat Jun 6 16:54:02 MST 2020

Greetings Agvisors - below is Dean Burgess’ message to all CALS students along with action items. Please speak up and voice concerns whether yours or as an advocate to students and peers.

UA Clicks and welcome event (part 2 of orientation)  is the message reminder from the Dean to all: “I have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind, at any time and in any place. We will have 100% fairness, equity, and inclusion.”

Be well,
Nancy

Nancy G. Rodriguez-Lorta, M.Ed.
Senior Director, Advising and Student Services
UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Office of Career & Academic Services
Forbes Room 203 | PO Box 210036 |Tucson, AZ 85721-0036
Phone: (520) 621-3616 | Fax: (520) 621-8662
Website: cals.arizona.edu/students/advising
To schedule an appointment call (520) 621-3616
Reasons reap results – J. Kwik
________________________________
From: Burgess, Shane C - (shaneburgess) <sburgess at cals.arizona.edu>
Sent: Friday, June 5, 2020 9:04 PM
To: cals-students-undergraduate at list.arizona.edu; cals-students-graduate at list.arizona.edu
Cc: Schuch, Ursula K - (uschuch); Staten, Michael E - (statenm); Antin, Parker B - (pba); Limesand, Kirsten H - (limesank); Hunt, James E - (jeh); Rodriguez Lorta, Nancy G - (nancyr)
Subject: Enough is Enough

Dear CALS undergraduate and graduate students,

It has been far too long--nearly three months--since I saw your faces and heard your voices in the classrooms, hallways, laboratories and common areas of our college. You have been in my thoughts almost constantly since the university moved its classrooms online. I miss your energy and enthusiasm. And I know this change has brought on incredible academic and personal challenges for you.

Now, all of us at the University of Arizona and across the country, and the world, have come face-to-face again with an abhorrent reality of racism. It is long past time that we faced up to it as individuals and as a society.

George Floyd's death while in police custody on May 25 in Minneapolis is the latest of thousands of unacceptable tragedies for Black lives over hundreds of years. All of these lives mattered. Since the video of Mr. Floyd's desperate pleas to breathe became public, like you I have been horrified, angry, fearful, felt helpless, frustrated, and sorrowful.

People living in free and equitable societies do not plead to breathe. They do not fear walking on a street because of their skin color. I cannot imagine what it must be like to fear for my son's safety, or even life, were he to be pulled over by a police officer. But my friends imagine it every time their sons are driving because they have Black skin. They can imagine it vividly because they have dealt with it personally as Black men. Not having to fear about this is one of my white privileges.

While I learned this from my friends, I also learned that I will never fully understand their experience of daily life in our nation. But this will not stop me from making a choice and I choose to stand wholly with them against racial discrimination by police and anyone else.

I believe it is simply unacceptable that anyone face prejudice, injustice, lack of hope, physical or mental abuse, or die simply because of how they look. I support and stand with everyone who exercises their democratic right to say "enough is enough, now!"

Every August we hold your college's first year student orientation. I hope you were there when you were a recent high school graduate, or transferring from community college, or back from serving in our military, or making any other change in life. I want to remind you of the single most important thing I said then:

I have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind, at any time and in any place. We will have 100% fairness, equity, and inclusion.

This is absolute and unambiguous.

Your college will be a place where you can pursue your academic goals and grow in your personal lives without fear of anything, and certainly not discrimination or physical safety. Injustice, inequality and any and every form of prejudice and discrimination have no place here. Together we must accept nothing less than actively promoting and introducing processes to achieve fairness, inclusiveness, diversity, equality, and equity for everyone.

When you come back to campus, I want you to know that every face you see--our faculty, staff, fellow students, and especially mine--is fully committed to inclusivity and respect. If you are not feeling at peace, are scared, are not feeling seen or heard, or not feeling protected, or feeling coerced, or if you are verbally or physically attacked, I want to know about it.

I want to hear you, and I will immediate take every action I can to remedy your situation.

On June 1, I sent a similar message to all College personnel: https://alvsce.arizona.edu/sites/alvsce.arizona.edu/files/1june2020.pdf

Please take advantage of the University of Arizona’s resources available for you to express your concerns or share your thoughts:

  *   Office of Institutional Equity<https://equity.arizona.edu/>
  *   African American Student Affairs<https://aasa.arizona.edu/>
  *   Counseling and Psych Services<https://health.arizona.edu/counseling-psych-services>
  *   Dean of Students Office<https://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/support/student-assistance>

Contact me personally directly at sburgess at cals.arizona.edu<mailto:sburgess at cals.arizona.edu>

To hear you, I will hold two town halls.

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS at 12-1 p.m. on Monday, June 8 https://arizona.zoom.us/j/96405846917

GRADUATE STUDENTS at 1-2 p.m. on Monday, June 8 https://arizona.zoom.us/j/98667613779

I have requested that our Diversity & Inclusion Council immediately act on your needs. There will be safe spaces to discuss your issues and for us all to learn. There will be separate events for graduate students, undergraduate students, and employees who identify as part of the African American community and for those of us who are allies.

More information about these forums will be distributed early next week. Please contact Dr. Ursula Schuch, Special Assistant to the Vice President, Diversity and Inclusiveness, uschuch at email.arizona.edu<mailto:uschuch at email.arizona.edu> if you have input on how our Diversity & Inclusion Council can best help you.

Sincerely,
Shane C. Burgess

Shane C. Burgess
Vice President for Agriculture, Life and Veterinary Sciences, and Cooperative Extension
Charles-Sander Dean of the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

Forbes Building, Room 306 | 1140 E. South Campus Drive
P.O. Box 210036 | Tucson, AZ 85721-0036
Office: 520-621-7621
sburgess at cals.arizona.edu<mailto:sburgess at cals.arizona.edu>
alvsce.arizona.edu<https://alvsce.arizona.edu/>
cals.arizona.edu<https://cals.arizona.edu/>
twitter<https://twitter.com/UAAgLifeVetExt>

The University of Arizona is located statewide on the ancestral homelands of indigenous peoples.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.cals.arizona.edu/pipermail/agvisors/attachments/20200606/17ee72db/attachment.htm>